The shadows of the Homegrown Terrorism and State-Sponsored Terrorism continue to become larger in India and the United States, which profess to be countries following the highest form of Democracy; US is the leading democratic country and India the largest. At this point it has become imperative to bring to light and expose those casting shadows and creating havoc and chaos and throttling progress in India using political extremism. Way back in the 20th century, the bright and radiant light emerged in the form of Radiance on the Indian scene, and as one of the united voices of the Indian Muslims, determined to tell the truth and demand justice based on the constitutional guarantees in the Constitution of India.
Radiance’s policy on standing for truth and justice was put to test hundreds of time, and every time its mission remained the same. I found this to be true way back in 1972. In 1971/1972, this writer was in the city of Hyderabad during the war of independence for Bangladesh. On 19 December, 1971 a victory rally was arranged in Hyderabad to celebrate liberation of Bangladesh. The procession was chanting victory slogans that left me in a complete state of shock. These slogans were uttered in Telugu against Muslims. Some of them were “Don’t trust the Muslims”, “Down with the Muslims”, and few others.
I wrote to Radiance and the detailed letter was published on 4 June, 1972. It shocked me to see my California address and name along with the letter. It was very uncommon practice, in those days, to print the address of the writer. The editorial board of Radiance felt that the letter is genuine, and of course it was, and the details were incredibly correct. The editorial board’s decision, I think, was made to dispense the truth while revealing the source – a letter from California. One of the statements I made in that letter was about the rioters whom I called the goondas and proprietors of irrationality. Now, in the 21st century, we know that they are naive people under the influence and control of home grown Hindutva terrorists.
IT IS NOT JIHAD
Dealing directly with terrorism and speaking with honesty for truth and justice, Radiance tackled the question of jihad and struggle. Editorially, Radiance has reminded Muslims about their duty to humanity on earth. Radiance has improved our confidence in the integrity of journalistic writings and editorially said: “Kidnapping and killing of innocent persons is morally unethical and unacceptable. It is crime against humanity; brutal, barbaric, inhuman atrocities. Words fail to describe the repulsion, horror and sense of dismay.” It also dealt with taking hostages by the terrorists and urged all of us to condemn in the severest possible terms.
Many articles in Radiance including ‘Terrorism Can Never be Islamic’, ‘Anatomy of Terrorism’, Islamic Terrorism – Myth and Reality’, ‘Terrorism is not Jihad’, ‘Confusing Islam with Terrorism’ served the purpose. The articles published in Radiance in the last three decades have tackled in detail the difference between jihad and terrorism, Islam and terrorism and even went into the semantics of the definition of terrorism. These articles and editorials have exposed the dishonest, irresponsible, insensitive and greedy journalists and mass media owners who deliberately misled the people in Europe, America and our own India.
The extremists have always created an atmosphere of hate, discrimination and crimes against Muslims because they could not stand the truth; cannot handle the truth; and truth will not help them earn more wealth. Yes, truth must be told and many articles have done that to counter the disinformation and misinformation about Islam, Muslims and jihad. Even with all of this, the racists, extremists, Islamophobics, anti-Islamic forces continue to say that Muslims do not condemn terrorism. In the United States and elsewhere, many Muslim leaders have taken up a tough stand against these forces of evil.
Maher Hathout, one of the Muslim leaders in the US, is a senior advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council and a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California. In 2005 in an article (Faith Front) in Los Angeles Times, he answered one of the questions that asked by Faith Front’s contributor named Dennis Prager: “Why are you so quiet?”. He said: “Like an urban myth, the idea that Muslims have been mute since 9/11 plagues us. Prager knows that mainstream Muslims have issued condemnations of terrorism ad nauseam, and American Muslim scholars even issued a fatwa against terrorism this summer. The organisation I advise (the Muslim Public Affairs Council) last year put together an integrated, grassroots campaign to fight terrorism and extremism. The problem isn’t how loud we are but how deaf some people can be.” http://articles.latimes.com/2005/dec/04/opinion/op-faith4
Dr. Hathout further said, “Terrorism violates Islamic theology and could ultimately destroy Islam. By using it to defend Islam, you (terrorists) sacrifice Islam. I am angered by people who say that moderate Muslims have been too reluctant to denounce extremism. If I shout and you don’t hear me, it means you are deaf. It doesn’t mean I didn’t shout.” (http://articles.latimes.com/2010/oct/31/local/la-me-muslims-20101031).
We have to continue to dispense the truth.
September 11 Tragedy and War on Terror Prison at Guantanamo Bay:
The tragedy of 911 came as a perfect man-made storm that hit the United States so hard that it rendered the Military-Industrial establishment of Washington clueless, confused and in disarray. They needed to produce the perpetrators, so they went on an expedition, taking innocent persons in Afghanistan as hostages, by paying large sums of money to those under their wing and working for them, and making them prisoners at Guantanamo.
“Murat Kurnaz, a Turk who was born in Germany, was arrested during a trip to Pakistan in autumn 2001 and delivered to US authorities in exchange for a payment of 3,000 dollars. US authorities determined in 2002 that Kurnaz has no terror links, but claimed that he remained a danger because one of his friends had committed a suicide attack – even though the friend in question is alive, and has never been found to have terror ties.” (by Fanny Carrier, Agence France Presse, Wednesday, 21 May, 2008).
Kurnaz was released because he is from Germany and hundreds of innocent persons from Pakistan and Afghanistan who were delivered for cash rewards were held in Guantanamo prison because of poverty and being from poor countries.
The US government trampled the constitution of the United States and told lies after lies about the innocent prisoners. The activities of the criminals of Washington do not stand the test of common sense. These acts are of intense embarrassment and humiliation for the people of the United States and source of shame for the US Congress.
At the prison, the US government lawyers could not find evidence against the detainees, so they invent it. In the torture chamber of the Guantanamo prison, one Yemeni prisoner finally said in exasperation, “OK, I saw Ben Laden five times: three times on Al Jazeera and twice on Yemeni news.” His “admission” was duly recorded in a case file: “Detainee admitted to knowing Osama bin Laden.” (in Los Angeles Times, Editorial, “The Gitmo disgrace”, Tuesday, 14 February, 2006).
Many articles published in the Radiance explicitly referred to the appalling and brutal conditions under which innocent people brought from Afghanistan and Pakistan were held and are being held indefinitely where torture is common and legal proceedings absent. Many writers alluded to the conditions at the prison that violate international law. The articles in Radiance exposed the weaknesses of the politicians in the US who talk more about democracy than delivering it. Some of the articles are; ‘Confusing Islam with Terrorism – US looking for Scapegoats’, ‘Who is Responsible for September 11’, ‘American response – A threat to Freedom’, ‘It is an Open Aggression’, ‘Who Says it is not War’, ‘Enslaving Media for Rationalizing Invasion, ‘Weaving Terror via War on Terror’, and many more.
Muslims are not surprised but are disappointed by decisions made by President Barack Obama and the US Congress in dealing with the innocent lives that are rotting in the infamous American Gulag, the Guantanamo prison. Yes, Muslims are disappointed in Obama’s failure to close Guantanamo. The prisoners are on hunger strike. To end the hunger strike, the authorities have commenced force-feeding. As recently as July 2013, the American medical Association, human rights activists and a federal judge, all agreed, that the force-feeding of more than 40 hunger strikers at the prison at Guantanamo Bay is a disgrace. The process being used to feed the prisoners is disgusting; going into details of the feeding process makes you feel like vomiting. Eighty-six prisoners cleared for release in 2010 remain at the prison. This agonising and disgusting situation has been created by President Obama. Had he fulfilled his promise made in the first term (2009-2012) to close Guantanamo, the 166 inmates now in the prison would have gone to foreign countries or to a secure prison in the United States. This hunger strike now – September 2013 – involves more than 100 prisoners who are screaming for justice, using it as a primal protest against indefinite detention. For God’s sake, US Congress and President Obama, please, close down this prison.
WAR ON TERROR
The following parable will definitely describe the situation created by this infamous war on terror. Three intoxicated cowboys were dragging a young man, who was trying to escape, towards a tree. An old man intervened and asked the cowboys as to why they were dragging the young man. They said, “We are going to hang him.” “No! No!, you cannot hang him. There is law in this land.”, the old man protested. “OK! We are going to have a court case and a trial, and then, we are going to hang him,” the cowboys said.
The American cowboys of Washington are intoxicated with power. The Radiance editorially in “Weaving Terror via War on Terror”, did describe in details the terror and counter-terror aspect of the world chaos. It is the competition between the individual suicide bombers terrorists and the state-sponsored terrorists. Radiance condemned the individuals and rightly said that hearts are bleeding by seeing the sad, gory incidents caused by the disgruntled disaffected who would listen to anybody to end their lives in suicide attacks, and in the end, it all becomes clear that they have no aim and they get nothing in return. These suicide bombers think they are retaliating against grave injustices done to the Muslims all over the world, by inflicting pain on the perpetrators, believing that applying pressure on the perpetrators will get justice.
On the other side, those in power start own mindless and inhumane terrorist acts causing millions in the Muslim world to suffer, and in the process commencing a cycle of terror, destroying own economy and world economy. Many articles in Radiance have alluded to this cycle of terrorism including the articles: “Individual Terrorism vs State Terrorism”, “American response: A Threat to Freedom”, “It is an Open Aggression”, “NATO Killings”, “Illegal Detentions”, and many more. US on its part abandoned the rule of law in pursuit of people it thought are out to destroy it. Many of its agencies committed criminal acts. Their agents were never convicted after investigation into the criminal wrong doings in the terror war. This is the story of both the countries: American – the most advanced democratic country, and India – the most populous democratic country.
TADA, POTO, UAPA TOOLS OF TERROR
In 1990’s the American NRIs wrote to PV Narasimha Rao, Prime Minister of India, urging him to repeal the Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Prevention Act – TADA, compensate the innocent victims adequately for unlawful incarceration and to bring the perpetrators to Justice for their brutalities. The brutalities included terrorising innocent citizens of the minority communities, especially the Muslims, by making midnight knocks on doors at homes, beating and torturing Muslim young men in police custody, making illegal arrests and continuing imprisonment for years without a trial, and extorting money from the victims’ families. This is being done in the name of national security and by using the infamous legislation – TADA.
In 2001 another law named POTO was introduced to throw justice and fair play to the dogs, a law promulgated in disguise to choke civil liberties, devastate human rights and to continue injustice and discrimination against minorities particularly the Muslims. At that time BJP was in power at Centre and did not find anything wrong with the law which was similar to TADA, which BJP had opposed in 1994 in the first place. Radiance rightly called editorially that this law is the tool of the unscrupulous administration giving more power to the corrupt police; declared it to be a method for fighting terrorism with greater terrorism.
Many articles including ‘Another Tada in the Offing’, ‘POTO Targets Weaker Section’, ‘POTO: The Tool of Terror’, ‘How indiscriminate is POTO’, ‘POTO Raj is Police Raj’ and other articles did go into the depth of the inherent weakness in the Ordinance because it was proposed under the psychological climate of terror by arrogant sponsors who showed that their minds are closed. This law was not needed because at that time out of the 77571 innocent people, particularly Muslims, arrested under TADA, 72000 were released without trial because there was no evidence found against them. In addition to this there were other draconian laws like Unlawful Act Prevention Act (UAPA) and POTA. POTA was misused by notorious Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, saying that there is a foreign hand in Godhra Train Burning. The details given in the above referred to articles are nauseating, disgusting and sickening, as to how Muslim youths were treated in the prisons and more than 60% of them were daily bread earners for their families.
It seems India, the largest democracy, is following in the footsteps of the US, the leading democracy, in proposing and implementing draconian laws in the name of national security, only to protect the politicians, profiteers and power grabbers, and not the general public. The draconian laws of both countries must be thrown out, international law and human rights must be restored and not allowed deteriorate further.
WARS AGAINST IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN
The Israeli intelligence agencies helped US and Britain make case for war against Iraq by providing false and fabricated information about the existence of chemical and biological weapons in Iraq. These lies were used by Tony Blair to support President Bush’s decision to invade and occupy Iraq. President Bush turned his justification into a nervous tamasha and a political circus and his team members kept on heaping lies upon lies and presented them to the US Congress with the biased, unfair and prejudiced media adding its own savour to it. The hypocrisy, immorality, deception, indecency of the rulers of US and Britain is beyond words. To justify war they spoke with forked tongues, while convincingly and piously misleading the citizens of both countries. What happened in Iraq can be summed up as: terrorising an entire nation, destroying Baghdad and other cities, engaging in killing, torturing, raping and sodomising the citizens of Iraq.
“A study by two non-profit journalism organisations found that President Bush and top administration officials issued “at least 935 false statements” about the national security threat from Iraq in the two years after the 2001 terrorist attacks. The study concluded the statements “were part of an orchestrated campaign that effectively galvanised public opinion and, in the process, led the nation to war under decidedly false pretences” (Study tallies Bush’s ‘false’ Iraq claims, Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, 23 January, 2008)
‘US Missiles target Iraq’, ‘US looking for Scapegoats’, ‘US Reaps what it Sows’, US has a Plan to Occupy Iraq’ ‘The war on Iraq Reality or Myth’, ‘Ugly Regimes Ugly War’, ‘World Leaders must Move to Stop US’, ‘Abu Gharib, Guantanamo Torture Icons’, ‘So where are the Weapons of Mass destruction’, and many other articles have given details of the atrocities committed by the US. One article said, it is “A war against human civilization”. We are all witness to the destruction and devastation of Iraq and Afghanistan and the abuses carried out in the prison camps including Abu Gharib and Guantanamo.
The US invaded Iraq in 1990s and was paid 35 Billion dollars by the Saudis for their efforts to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. In 2003, the misguided and arrogant Bush and his cronies thought ousting Saddam from power will give them power over Iraq’s oil wells and a new oil policy will emerge. The US thought that it will occupy the oil wells and oil wealth of Iraq, pay the Iraqis what they want from wealth and control the Middle East by being in Iraq. It ended up becoming semi bankrupt and has spent more than 2 trillion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan and also destroyed the world economy.
HINDUTVA TERRORISM & SAFFRON TERRORIST CAMPS
India’s external Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna addressed the UN General Assembly on 1 October, 2012 in New York and said, “Terrorism remains one of the most potent threats to international peace and security. The international community must adopt a zero tolerance approach towards terrorism and focus on efforts to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism including its invidious network of epicentre, training facilities and financing.”(INDIA WEST, California, 5 October, 2012)
This is a very beautiful speech. How about taking action to dismantling the infrastructure of the home grown terrorists – the Hindutva Terrorists? We are seeing their infrastructure growing larger and larger since Independence.
‘Saffron Training Camps’, ‘Terror Attack in Hyderabad’, ‘Need to Discuss Real Terrorists’, ‘India’s Own War on Terror – Real Target – the Muslims’, Will Shinde Take Hindutva to End’ ‘Sternly Deal with Hindutva Terrorism’, ‘Hindutva Imprint on Samjhauta Blast’, and many more articles.
Many articles went in detail about how the ‘Brahmanist’ forces have infiltrated the CBI and how the RSS has implanted its agents in higher decision-making position, who in collusion with the police are terrorising, arresting and framing innocent Muslim youth in false criminal cases, using secret information which the courts say do not exist or is on record; submitting unsatisfactory and unreliable evidence; and not producing supposedly recovered grenades and AK-47 assault rifle before the court as exhibits. The criminal elements, agents of RSS, are bringing disgrace and disrespect to the police force in many places.
These articles discussed in detail the activities of Saffron and Hindutva brigade engaged in terrorism and then giving lessons in patriotism and making efforts to divide the Indians along religious and sectarian lines using attention grabbing techniques. The best quote is from the article “Saffron Lessons in Patriotism”. In part it said,
“One has lost the count of hate-spewing yatras the party has organised over the past couple of decades to burnish its image not just as the champion of the Hindus but Bharat Mata (mother India) itself. And it always seems to work. Who cares if such marches to cuckoo land end up driving the nation of a billion people over the edge? How many innocents are consumed by its cauldron of hatred and bigotry matters little. What really counts is how many people are taken in by your rhetoric and end up voting for you. At the end of the day, it’s all about power.
This is not the first time the Hindutva brigade has given the call to hoist the Indian flag in Srinagar, the scenic capital of Jammu and Kashmir. We have been here before. Exactly a decade ago, Murli Manohar Joshi launched an Ekta (unity) yatra from Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of India, to Kashmir. (Radiance, 6 February 2011)
“India can never forget the terror and devastation sparked by Advani’s rath yatra in September 1990, which eventually led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, not to mention the thousands of innocent lives lost in communal violence that followed.”
Shushil Kumar Shinde, Home Minister of India, in January 2013, accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh for establishing and conducting terror training camps to spread Hindutva terrorism. He made remarks that implicated BJP and RSS in planting bombs in Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon city. The top politicians of BJP immediately went into action and conducted political arm twisting that forced Mr. Shinde to retract his statements. This reminds me of President Nixon of US who was a political scoundrel and rouge who had once said, “I am not a crook.” This became the best quote of the 20th century. He later resigned from the US presidency in disgrace. Similarly, the BJP and RSS leaders are engaging in terrorism and deny it saying, “We are not terrorists.” It is written all over India. Yes! You are. It is a matter of time when this leadership will meet the same fate as Nixon.
The Hindutva extremists living in the United States, the lovers of the BJP and RSS who are shouting, “We are not terrorists”, are helping and assisting them in continuing the saffron terrorism in India by sending contributions from here. The NRIs vividly remember Hindutva extremists collecting contribution to buy bricks called, the shaliniya, for building a temple on the site of the demolished Babri Masjid. Now, most of them, in addition to their anti-Muslim activities are helping and assisting the Islamophobia practitioners in the United States. We have seen them in anti-Islamic rallies arranged by the Islamophobic people, spewing their poison in the handheld posters and placards.
One of the Hindutva Organisations is “Indian American Intellectuals Forum (IAIF). It wants India to be officially declared a Hindu State. Narain Kataria, President of IAIF, said in June 2012 among other things: “Hindus should pay attention to persons like Veer Savarkar, the great Hindu revolutionary, who had said: “Militarise the Hindus and Hinduise the politics”. So we must, bring together all rich Hindus, all renowned Dharmacharyas, Hindu intellectuals, and military and police officials. Emphasise upon them the importance of working together. Every Hindu family should keep at least some weapons to defend in the time of need.”(India Tribune, Chicago, June 22, 2012)
Some of the Saffron extremists are now making yatra to America. Some are eagerly waiting for their visa.
The Indian Muslim Council USA has rightly appealed to the people of conscience to disassociate themselves from the hate-mongering speeches of Hindutva activist Sadhvi Ritambhara. (Radiance Viewsweekly, 22-28 August 2010). The Sadhvi has been importing racism and hate to the United States of America after the demolition of the Babri-Masjid Mosque and brainwashing decent Hindus living in the US about the nefarious plans of VHP and RSS. (Sadhvi Ritambhara’s Hate-Mongering Yatra to US, Radiance, 26 September 2010)
Radiance is a forum for the Muslim minority of India to discuss and debate the international law and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to emphasise that they be honestly applied to the people of India. The Muslim leadership in India and the writers on this forum are always evaluating the legality and morality of Indian central government’s involvement in the state-sponsored terrorism and other social, economic and educational issues. Many writers and leaders have opposed central government’s policies that are designed to enrich the aspirations of the majority while ignoring the needs of the minorities, especially the Muslims. Muslims in India have expressed on this forum that they could no longer accept the conventional stories and policies of the central government.
The Muslim leadership has been and is trying to support the struggles of marginalised and oppressed Muslims and other minorities, demanding release of thousands of Muslims in prisons. Many writers in their articles on this forum – the Radiance – have identified the tremendous gap between Indian leader’s rhetoric of freedom and justice and the reality of its policies that perpetuate injustice. To close this gap, the Muslims of India and its leadership should continue to engage in public discussion, demand action from the government on all issues, and at the same time being honest about their own weaknesses and the challenges they are facing.
The Muslims of India and the NRIs stand for truth and Justice; they want to see the crown of Truth and Justice (TAJ) on the head of India.
[MOHAMMAD YACOOB is a retired Industrial Engineer and Engineering Proposals Analyst, lives in Los Angeles, California. He is the former Chairman of the Consultative Committee of Indian Muslims in North America, Chicago, USA]