'I am ashamed that you and I were born into the same faith -- because we are nothing alike. My religion is humanity. The Islam I know teaches me to protect the innocent. Yours celebrates slaughter, you #&$#@#.
'My Islam teaches me to serve my nation. Yours tells you to tear it apart,' writes Major Dr Mohommed Ali Shah (retd).
You bunch of spineless cowards. It is well past midnight, in fact the wee hours in the morning, and I just can't get sleep all because of your gruesome killing of simple innocent people of my motherland, you sick people.
I write to you as a furious, broken-hearted Indian Muslim. A man whose soul is torn between unimaginable grief and blazing rage. Because when you attacked innocent people in Pahalgam, you didn't just attack a place -- you tore through the heart of every Indian who still believes in unity, in peace, in justice.
And I speak not just as an individual, but as a son of a family that has lived and breathed service to this nation.
Patriotism runs through my veins.
My father, Lt Gen Zameer Uddin Shah, retired as the deputy chief of Army Staff and later became the de facto leader of the Muslim intelligentsia as the vice chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University.
His younger brother, the celebrated actor Naseer Uddin Shah -- a recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan -- and my father's elder brother, a well respected and highly reputed IITian, have all been honoured by the President of India for their distinguished contributions to our great nation.
My family has always been treated very fairly and I am a very proud Indian before I am a Muslim. It is from this legacy of honour, service, and nation-first values that I draw my strength -- and it is exactly this legacy that makes your actions even more revolting to me.
So many films that I acted in were shot in the beauty of Pahalgam, be it National award winning films like Haider, Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Moji even the web series Avrodh where I played a para-commando, was shot in J&K.
I have mentioned about the beauty of India is our rich cultural diversity in some of my TEDx talks that I gave outside India as well and you shameless people disrespect humanity, ask people their religion and kill them. Oh, you are surely going to rot in hell.
You claim to fight for something. For what? For Islam? For Kashmir?
Don't insult our intelligence.
You are not freedom-fighters. You are not warriors. You are cowards hiding behind guns, masks, and false slogans. You're butchers.
You didn't dare to come close to an army base. You targeted simple innocent civilians, tourists, small children, helpless mothers, pilgrims, innocent, unarmed, newly-weds, defenseless human beings -- and you dare to call this jihad (struggle)?
No, this is not jihad. Jihad means "struggle." This is gunah, bloodshed, and betrayal of humanity and God.
You've dragged the name of Allah through the blood-soaked soil of Pahalgam. You've taken a religion of peace, twisted and misinterpreted it, and turned it into a weapon of fear. You shameful creatures. You are surely going to rot in hell.
I am ashamed that you and I were born into the same faith -- because we are nothing alike. My religion is humanity. The Islam I know teaches me to protect the innocent. Yours celebrates slaughter, you #&$#@#.
My Islam teaches me to serve my nation. Yours tells you to tear it apart.
No matter how much I curse or abuse you in my heart, it would still be too little.
And because of you, I now carry a burden I never asked for. Every time someone hears a Muslim name or sees a skull cap, there's suspicion in their eyes. All because of you!
Right-thinking, patriotic Muslims who love their motherland have to explain, defend, and apologise -- for crimes they never committed and beliefs they never endorsed.
You've taken lives. But worse -- you've tried to take away trust. You've tried to make it impossible for an Indian Muslim to love his country openly, freely, without being questioned.
That is your real crime.
And guess what? You've failed.
You will always fail.
Because we -- the real Muslims, the real Indians -- are still standing. And we are furious. Not afraid -- furious. We won't be pushed into corners. We won't be silenced by your bullets. We won't let you rewrite what it means to be one of us.
To the people of India -- please do not confuse these monsters with your Muslim brothers and sisters. We are bleeding with you. We are angry with you. And we are not your enemy. We are also victimised by these cowards like each one of you.
To the terrorists -- you are nothing but a stain, a blot, a rotting scar on the face of humanity. But this country, this unity, this idea of India -- is eternal.
You tried to terrorise us. You've only awakened us.
To the families in Pahalgam, I offer not just prayers, but a promise. We will not forget. We will not forgive. We will not rest until your loss echoes in the conscience of this country -- and justice is served, not just in the courts, but in the soul of this nation. How dare you ask names / religion and then do target killings? You definitely are not Muslims, and the Muslim community throughout the world disowns you. Bloo@y terrorists.
You didn't just attack Kashmir.
You attacked all of us.
And we will rise -- as a nation, as Indians.
Jai Hind!
Major Dr Mohommed Ali Shah (Veteran)
The author is a popular International TEDx speaker and one of the leading defence analysts on TV.
You can watch his YouTube channel here.
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