By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
Kolkata: Union External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee has opposed the global campaign, India included, to associate Islam with terrorism. He said the idea of associating Islam with terrorism floated by the U.S. after 9/11 is unacceptable.
He was speaking at the seminar on “Terrorism and Justice” organized by an NGO.
“After the Twin Tower attack, the U.S. floated worldwide the concept of ‘Islamic terrorism’; I am vehemently opposed to this” the Munsif daily quoted him saying.
There were reports about attacks on Bengali-speaking Muslims living outside West Bengal by branding them as Bangladeshi infiltrators. Commenting on the issue, Pranab Mukherjee said he had an argument with the then Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani.
“I asked Mr. Advani whether he could be called Pakistani infiltrator because he hailed from Sindh. Most chief ministers of West Bengal hailed from erstwhile East Bengal. Can they be called infiltrators?” the union minister said.
He further said that it is not unusual for the people from the smaller economies like Bangladesh to move to the bigger economies like India. But there is no reason to believe that lakhs of Bangladeshi people are infiltrating India as claimed by Advani.