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Birds of a feather      fight each other Where are the       green M&Ms? No path to reformation One word: Khilafat Lajja Dear Readers, VI

Bechare, battered and besieged

Going through the articles missed while abroad, I found this nugget by that high priest of liberals, Mushirul Hasan, in The Indian Express: "For Gandhi, non-violence consisted in refraining from exercising the power to hit back and was a virtue of the brave... He would have, therefore, appealed to the American people to eschew the path of retribution. What good does it serve to target people of Middle Eastern and South Asian descent under pressure to track down suspects in the terrorist attack?"

This had provoked a sharp response (CC'ed to me) from Bhalchandrarao Patwardhan, which I reproduce here, knowing that newspapers which campaign for reinstating without revision in kiddy textbooks the pinko idea that the Hindu pantheon is mere mythology, can't possibly have the mettle to disseminate modern, documented history:

"If Gandhi was indeed alive today, he would surely have advocated non-violence and restraint to the US... just as he had advised the British in a letter he wrote in 1940 during World War II to 'Invite Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini to take what they want of the countries you call your possessions. Let them take possession of your beautiful island with your many beautiful buildings. You will give all these but not your souls or your mind' Or, like he had offered similar advice to Hindu and Sikh victims of the bloodbath of the Partition in 1947, he might have simply asked President Bush and all Americans to pray. In his own words (September 1947), 'I asked them why they all came here. Why did they not die there?... Even if our men are killed, why should we feel angry with anybody, you should realize that even if they are killed, they have had a good and proper end... It is true they were murdered but then some others die of cholera or due to other causes'."

Hehehe, couldn't have made the point better myself. Imagine a Britain where Herr Hitler had taken over -- Harrods converted into Dachau and more Jews snuffed out. As for pressurising Hindus and Sikhs to blissfully submit to the sword of Islam, it's enough for me to be grateful to Nathuram Godse.

Such is the ideal that other countries expect India to follow, even as they eschew everything remotely like it. And very correctly, too! For nations aren't sustained by succumbing to evil like Adolf Hitler and Osama bin Laden. So, to answer those asking why I've become "a cheerleader for America," here goes:
• America responded to an external aggression like India should have ten years ago -- and that gets my respect.
• The US is obliterating the very elements that have been laying waste Jammu & Kashmir, the north-east and every other limb of India - and that gets my full-throated support.
• I do not care how many innocents are killed in the process of destroying the Taliban and the Al Qaeda -- "collateral damage" is a concept I fully understand and accept; which is why I'm still furious about Masood Azhar's release. If a people cannot stomach the death of a few civilians -- even as they merrily send in legions of volunteers, the soldiers, to die -- they have no right to survive.

Back to pathetic pleas. In his response, Mr Rao ignored that which strips the "liberal" cover off Mushirul Hasan. To wit: "The US administration has drawn up a list of 'rogue states,' but does that include Israel? If not, why not? 'Barq girti hai to bechare Mussalmanon par' (Lightning strikes, always, the beleaguered Muslims)."

Meaning:
• Examining the root cause of violence is a luxury allowed only to Muslims. Therefore, the destruction of the WTC towers -- killing thousands -- is due to Israel's injustice. Naturally, Hindus may not mention why the derelict structure in Ayodhya was destroyed -- sans casualties.
• The ritual of differentiating between the radical and the moderate elements of Islam - a requisite for all non-Muslim writers -- vanishes into thin air. Whether it's the Hammas, Hizbollah or Al Qaeda on the US hit-list, all are now just plain old Mussalman.
• No matter where he is or what heinous acts he commits, the Muslim is forever bechara, battered and besieged...

Don't blame me if I see the hallmarks of the closet khilafat-supporter in such outpourings. And this closet variety, I loathe and will further exemplify:

The November 16 issue of The Milli Gazette, the preferred journal of the Islamist gentleman, informs us that Mushirul Hasan, speaking at an international seminar on terrorism in New Delhi, asserted that "it is totally wrong to say that madrasas in India are producing terrorists... Citing the example of Darul Uloom, Deoband, he said that this institution has always provided nationalist ideologies. About Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow, he said that whenever there was any case of Islamic terrorism, parents and students of this madrassa were disturbed and worried and members of Sangh Parivar used to make a beeline for this institution. He said that RSS is indulging in propaganda that madrasas in India are functioning on the lines of those in Pakistan."

Apparently, Hasan's been in non-reading mode all through the 90s, when it was noticed that the burgeoning of madarsas coincided with the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in India. I'll give just a few excerpts from newspapers which apparently are instruments for RSS propaganda:

• "The rapid growth of masjids and madarsas on the adjoining sides of the Indo-Nepal border has caused deep concern... The agents of Harkut-ul-Ansar selected the bordering areas as their safe haven for anti-India activities... The training camps are mostly held on the farm houses with high boundary walls and madarsas which are strictly guarded. The local functionaries could not dare to enter their premises." (The Times of India, May 7, 1999)

• "Last year a secret service agent noted in his records that on August 14 in a madarsa near Khawda [in Kutch], teachers have coerced students into singing songs showing affinity towards Pakistan and having words like 'Our Kutch, Our Pakistan'... Many fundamentalists on the border of Kutch worship Masood [Azhar] as God. In one madarsa... the photograph of Maulana Masood has been put up." (Chitralekha, October 16, 2000)

• "The Darul Uloom Deoband has never hogged so much media attention as it did last week... Who are their icons? No, not Gandhi, Nehru, not even Jinnah. Their heroes hail from the Islamic world: Imam Abu Hanifa and Qaari Siddiqui of Banda. This is hardly surprising in an institution whose vice-chancellor holds the century-old fatwa declaring India a Darul Harb (country of conflict) valid even today." (ToI, March 18, 2001)

• "In this crowded, fly-infested town where the Taliban was born, Islamic seminarians see the Afghan rulers as heroes... 'The Taliban are our heroes and we have nothing against the fact that they bombed the stone Buddhas. The American media has maligned the Taliban, but how bad could they be? After all, their ideology comes from here. I would like to meet them personally and shake their hand,' says Wasi Zama, 25, rocking back and forth on his heels, sweeping his arm across the perfectly manicured gardens and the historic complex of buildings called Dar-ul-Uloom [Deoband]." (The Washington Times, April 10)

• In the madarsas across Kashmir valley, "the Deoband school of thought is the driving force, the same force that feeds the Taliban in Afghanistan and jehadi groups in Pakistan, including the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen. And although Deobandis deny that these religious schools are potential jehad factories... they admit that much of what is taught here overlaps with the hardline philosophy of the Taliban." (The Indian Express, April 12)

• "According to the Intelligence Bureau study obtained by The Hindustan Times, Pakistan is brainwashing Muslims in some of the border states and clandestinely funding mosques and madrasas... The study identifies the number of mosques and madrasas along a 10-km border stretch in a few districts in UP, Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat... The teaching imparted in madrasas here has acquired a 'militant tone.' The note says ISI holds sway over some of these madrasas frequented by Muslim theologians from Nepal, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia." (HT, August 27)

• "Delhi police officials who have interrogated SIMI activists say funds for the thousands of the new madrassas comes from a very wide network of agencies concentrated in the Arab world... Officials also point out that even before the government banned SIMI, the madrassas were hailing Saudi exile and now No. 1 suspect in the US Sept. 11 attacks, Osama bin Laden, as a religious guru." (Newspaper Today, September 30)

Darul Uloom Deoband provides "nationalist ideologies"? As in the talib's glee at the destruction of the Bamian Buddhas? As in upholding the fatwa declaring India a Darul Harb - a "country of war" to be conquered by Islam...? Such, then, is our liberal, non-religious intelligentsia of Muslim origin.

No matter what the evidence, all the problems, even the thirst to blow up people, are due to the flaws in non-Muslims. For Hasan, it's the Sangh Parivar. Just as for Hamid Gul -- and three-quarters of the Islamic world -- the 9-11 attacks were effected by either Zionist air traffic controllers who guided the aircrafts into the WTC towers, or the hijackers who were Arab traitors brainwashed by Mossad. As one of our mostly-moderates wrote to ToI: "Mossad, Israeli intelligence has very carefully executed this operation to discredit its enemies on a global level but in the process it made a very crucial mistake. They did everything too perfectly!"

The Islamist sees the entire non-Muslim world, and not just Israel, as the archenemy. He seeks an Islamic revival through which the infidel must be vanquished. He wraps himself in global grievances to cloak his khilafat objectives. His aim is not merely to destroy Israel or America - it is to create a fundamentalist Islamic state across the world. His is a jihad to liberate the world from kaffirs. Like Marxism, this Islamic fantasy aims to impose its vision on others and call it "peace." It is the war against this factor that I'm rooting for whole-heartedly: Rah, rah, RAH!

Will Al Qaeda be placated if -- instead of bombing Afghanistan -- the US forced Israel to withdraw all Jewish settlers from Palestinian territories? The problem with that scenario is, delusions don't disappear with appeasement, for they're crucial to the militant's cause: Fanatics *need* to feel victimised. And it's in the interest of those who seek influence to further fuel such "hurt sentiments" - witness the decades-old modus operandi of the Congress and the Leftists. What did Israel have to do with the jihad against Christians in Nigeria? What does Israel have to do with the jihad in western China, the CARs, Turkey, the Balkans and the Philippines...? Or in Kashmir...?

Haan ji haan, barq girti hai to sirf bechare Mussalmanon par. Like hell it does.

Varsha Bhosle