By Yoginder Sikand and Nigar Ataullah, TwoCircles.net,
(Mohammad Salim, Associate Professor in Electronics and Communications at the Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, is the Amir (President) of the Rajasthan chapter of the Jamaat-e Islami Hind. In this interview with Yoginder Sikand and Nigar Ataulla he speaks about the targeting of Muslims in Rajasthan by agencies of the state and Hindutva groups in the name of countering terrorism.)
Q: Rajasthan has witnessed several terrorist attacks in recent years. What forces do you think are at work behind these attacks? How do you view the way the state and the media have gone about countering terrorism?
A: The first terror bomb attack in Rajasthan took place in October last year in the mosque attached to the dargah of the renowned Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer. This was towards the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, in the evening at the time of iftar when the fast is broken. At this time, the shrine was packed with worshippers. Three people were killed in the blast and thirty-six injured. All of these people were Muslims.
Within an hour of the blast, the media claimed, without any firm evidence, this was the handiwork of the Bangladesh-based Harkat ul-Jihad ul-Islami (HUJI). What they wanted to claim thereby was that it was done by Muslims themselves. This was nothing less than a conspiracy to mislead the direction of the investigations. Shortly after, the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil said the same sort of thing—that the blasts were probably done by people with links across the border. This was extremely irresponsible, to say the least.
The Jamaat-e Islami’s Rajasthan unit and other Muslim groups in the state protested against this, saying that such statements would give a wrong twist to the investigations. But this is precisely what seems to have happened in the case of several blasts that have taken place in various other parts of the country as well. The media, the police and the government investigating agencies all seem to readily pounce on Muslims soon after the blast takes place, and, before coming up with any substantial proof, accuse them of being behind them. And, as happened in the case of the Ajmer blast, inevitably scores of innocent Muslims are picked up, incarcerated and tortured in jails and branded in media trials as terrorists even though the courts have not pronounced their verdicts. So, I would say that the way the state and the media has gone about seeking to counter terrorism has been, in many instances, entirely condemnable.
M. Saleem
Q: Why would Muslims target a Muslim place of worship and kill Muslim worshippers, as has been alleged in the case of the Ajmer shrine blast?
A: Exactly. Why point fingers of suspicion only at Muslims? Evidence from Malegaon and some other places seems to indicate that radical Hindutva groups and activists might well be behind many blasts, but this issue is rarely talked about. By suspecting or blaming Muslims alone soon after a terror attack, the police, the investigating agencies and the media want the investigation to move only in one particular, preconceived direction. I am not saying that no Muslims can at all be involved in any terror attack. If they have been, it is condemnable and, if proven, strict action should be taken against them. But why come to the conclusion that every terror attack is the handiwork of Muslims even before proper investigation?
Now, as I was mentioning earlier, this is exactly what happened in the immediate aftermath of the blast at the Ajmer dargah. The police interrogated some 200 people, almost all Muslims. It mounted a totally one-sided arrest of innocent maulvis and madrasa teachers and kept them in illegal detention. The police did not provide any basis for their arrest, and later, when we took up the issue, they were released.
Q: What is the current status of investigations into the Ajmer shrine terror attack?
A: The Government has not said anything about this. Nor has the media talked about it, although a year has now passed since it happened. The police either have not been able to track down the actual perpetrators or else perhaps do not want to do so.
Q: Do you think that it may well be that some radical Hindutva group may have been responsible for the blast, and so it is possible that they are being shielded?
A: I do not want to make any claims without adequate proof, but, who knows, this might be the case. After all, Hindutva activists have been involved in terror attacks in other parts of India.
I want to add something here which is rarely, if ever, raised in the ‘mainstream’ media. Ever since the Government of India joined hands with America and Israel in what it calls the ‘global war on terror’, agencies like the CIA, FBI and Mossad have become much more active in India. We greatly suspect their agendas and intentions. They are clearly and explicitly anti-Muslim. There are reports that American and Israeli intelligence agencies are working together with their Indian counterparts. This bodes ill for our country. After all, it is reasonable to believe that America does not want India to be a strong power. As in several other countries, the CIA might be working to weaken and de-stabilise India, and could be involved in stoking inter-communal rivalry in our country, so as to exacerbate anti-Muslim hatred and force India closer into the US-Israeli axis. So, one cannot rule out the possibility that these foreign intelligence agencies might be connected with some blasts that have happened in India. Nor can one rule out the possible role in at least some of these blasts of the local agents and ardent backers of American imperialists and their Zionist allies, such as radical Hindutva groups. After all, these blasts and the Hindu-Muslim strife and demonization of Muslims lead to benefit the political agenda of the Hindutva brigade and harm Muslims the most.
Q: In May this year there were nine blasts in Jaipur in a single day in which almost 70 people died. Who do you think was responsible? What do you have to say about the role of state agencies in response to these terror attacks?
A: I think the blasts were perpetrated by people who do not want communal harmony in Rajasthan, a state where relations between Hindus and Muslims have traditionally been fairly cordial. These elements wanted to create enmity between Hindus and Muslims in our state. They wanted to drown Rajasthan in communal blood-letting, but, fortunately, the ordinary Hindus and Muslims of Rajasthan prevented this.
The blasts demand to be investigated and we insist on an impartial investigation. Both Muslims and Hindus lost their lives in these dastardly attacks, and this was a major crime against humanity and religion. However, as in the case of the Ajmer shrine blast, no sooner had Jaipur been rocked by these terror attacks than the media and investigating agencies began branding Muslims for them without any proper investigation. First, they claimed that the Bangladesh-based HUJI had plotted the attacks with the help of Bengali-speaking Muslims in Jaipur. This led to a virtual witch-hunt of Bengali Muslims in the city. But then they changed their track by claiming that some other radical Islamists might have been involved. Almost a thousand Muslims were picked up for investigation, including maulvis, madrasa teachers and Muslim social workers. Some forty Muslims were kept in illegal detention, some for as long as almost a month. Large sections of the Rajasthani media circulated false and fabricated stories about these people being terrorists, thus further demonizing Muslims in the minds of Hindus. This poisonous propaganda was used as a means to legitimize the targeting of Muslims immediately after the blasts by Hindutva groups and agencies of the state. I won’t be surprised if blasts are happening in many parts of the country simply to provide an excuse for targeting and oppressing Muslims.
Of course, it is the duty of the state to investigate such heinous crimes, but my question is: why target or suspect Muslims alone? Is it not possible that some other hand might have been behind these attacks? Why should one rule out all other possibilities? And the way the police officers went about their interrogation of the Muslims they rounded up also shows their preconceived mindset. So, or so I have heard, some of these Muslims were told, ‘Someone among you Muslims has done this. You must know something about this.’ That is how in these cases the interrogation was begun.
As I was saying, soon after the Jaipur blasts the police began indiscriminately arresting Muslims in different parts of Rajasthan and held them in detention. Several of them were badly tortured. It was like an army operation, coming in trucks with guns and barging into Muslim localities, into people’s homes without search warrants. It was like invading an enemy land. It was only after some civil rights groups agitated that most of them were released, although some still remain in prison. No evidence was found against those who were released, and as for those who still remain in prison the charges of terrorism against them are yet to be conclusively proven. My point is, why harass and alienate innocent people? Take action against the real culprits if you find them, irrespective of whether they are Muslims or Hindus or whatever. But do not brand and forcibly alienate an entire community like this.
All this has led to widespread fear among Muslims in the state. One does not know who can be picked up by the police and on what cooked-up excuse. There have been instances of the police forcing Muslims to make forced confessions for crimes they did not commit, making them sign blank papers which can be used against them and warning them not to report all this to the media or else they would be further targeted and falsely implicated.
Q: The now-banned Students’ Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) has been accused of being behind several terror attacks across the country. Some say that the Jaipur terror attacks might have been the handiwork of some former SIMI activists. What do you have to say about this?
A: Personally, I never agreed with the SIMI’s radical rhetoric. I do not mean to defend the SIMI, but all I say that first the charges against the SIMI have to be proven. It must be noted that in no court in the country have charges of engaging in terrorism that have been brought against the SIMI been proven. If it is found, after fair and impartial investigation, that some ex-SIMI activist, or anyone else for that matter—Hindu, Muslim or whatever—is behind such a heinous crime then he should be given exemplary punishment. But surely this should not happen before such an investigation has come to a firm and decisive conclusion. So my point is, yes, take action against those who are conclusively proven to be behind terror acts, but do not use the label of SIMI to brand all Muslims as terrorists. If SIMI or the Bajrang Dal or any other outfit is proven to be engaged in terrorism we must all condemn this, and regard them as a threat to our country as a whole.
Q: What action are Muslim organizations in Rajasthan taking to protest and halt the harassment of Muslims in the name of countering terrorism?
A: Muslims in Rajasthan are a relatively small, scattered, impoverished and largely illiterate community. This, and the problem of being divided into different sects and caste-like groups, has made the work of community-organising, institution-building and advocacy among Muslims in the state very difficult. Yet, we are still trying. Seventeen Muslim organizations in the state, including the Rajasthan chapters of the Jamaat-e Islami, Milli Council, Jamiat ul-Ulema-e Hind and Ahl-e Hadith—have come together to form the Rajasthan Muslim Forum. Through this forum, and along with secular Hindu social activists and human rights organizations, particularly the Peoples’ Union for Civil Liberties, we are trying to build public awareness and political pressure to insist that investigations are done properly and to protest against the harassment and targeting of innocent Muslims. It is not my point that all police officers or all media persons in Rajasthan are biased against Muslims. Not at all. The situation is very different from Gujarat. There are many of them who are honest and upright and neutral. We need to reach out to them as well, and with their help work towards building communal harmony and resisting terrorism, no matter what religious label its perpetrators use to carry on with their heinous designs.
Mohammad Salim can be contacted on [email protected]