By Shehzad Poonawalla,
Ever since the world’s most wanted terrorist — Osama Bin Laden — was shot dead by the Americans in the Pakistani suburb of Abbottabad, there has been, quite expectantly, non-stop coverage of the incident by the media in an attempt to unravel the sequence of events which led to his killing. Obvious and legitimate questions are now being raised, both in India and abroad, as to where Pakistan stands in the “war against terror” given that the United States unilaterally carried out the entire operation to eliminate Osama. And frankly, it is important to debate and analyze, what level of co-operation can be expected from Pakistan given that some elements in the Pakistani establishment, namely the Pakistani military and the ISI, do provide a safe haven to organizations that wish to target American, European and Indian people, interests and assets.
So as I flip channel after channel I find tired and retired diplomats, strategic affairs “experts” and former officials from India, Pakistan and elsewhere say the same thing over and over again in many different ways. Given that some channels like to be more hard-line than others, one isn’t surprised at their tenor and language when they say “Pakistan caught with its pants down!!!” “Shouldn’t India also go after the 26/11 perpetrators just like the Americans went after Osama?” “Pakistan’s ten lies have been exposed” so and so forth. Now, while I don’t subscribe to the childish idea of gloating (simply because I believe that foreign policy is more about silent action than loud ranting) and mocking Pakistan as if to say “we told you so”, I do realize that there is an audience which likes this entire ‘Pakistan-bashing’ bit even though it amounts to nothing more than empty rhetoric. I can understand the “economics” that guide a channel to indulge in such sensationalization meant for consumption in a TRP driven market for news.
But what I did find very disturbing (yet not surprising) is how the Indian Muslim once again was called upon “to prove his loyalty” by a section of the media namely Times Now. This has been the trend for quite some time now. Every debate that concerns Pakistan, wittingly or unwittingly, is extended to the Indian Muslim. While it is taken for granted that every other Indian supports the Indian position as enunciated by “Times Now”, the Indian Muslim is called upon to expressly state the same or else it is to be assumed that he tacitly supports Pakistan. For example, last night (3rd May 2011) the Newshour debate hosted by Arnab Goswami on “your channel” rhetorically asked why Osama was being lionized by a few people and that the Indian Muslim must resist from making Osama “a figure of worship”. Now, the average non-Muslim Indian would see nothing wrong in what he says. Perhaps the average non-Muslim Indian may echo his line and say “Why don’t you (the Indian Muslim) denounce Osama and his brand of venomous ideology?” What Arnab forgets however is that no Indian Muslim ever considered Osama to be the torch bearer of Islam in the first place nor did his brand of Islam (or perversion of Islam) find an acceptance in any section of Indian Muslims so where is the question of denouncing him? Why must I denounce Osama when I never ever thought of him to be worthy of my support in the first place? Why can’t it be assumed that we Indian Muslims think of him as nothing more than a criminal who killed innocent people just like it is assumed for any other Indian?
My problem is just this, that by asking the average Indian Muslim to reject Osama expressly, one creates an impression that Indian Muslims were and are naturally inclined towards supporting him.
In one way it’s like asking a victim of a sexual abuse to expressly state and submit that she did not want to be sexually abused or else it would be assumed that she wanted to be sexually abused or asking every Sikh to state that he isn’t a supporter of Khalistan!! Arnab’s argument unfortunately is as disgusting and discomforting as the arguments I have just stated. What Arnab forgets conveniently while asking this question of the Indian Muslim is that not a single Indian Muslim had been associated with the Al Qeada. Isn’t that itself evidence of the fact that Osama had been rejected a long time ago? And perhaps Arnab’s enthusiastic bunch of journalists managed to get some sound-bites from some worn-out separatist leader or some Maulana who spewed out some anti-American rhetoric, for consumption by a hard-line Muslim audience. Does that mean that the entire Indian Muslim community is obligated to ‘prove’ that we are not a part of team OSAMA? Do three or four Maulanas represent a community of over 13 crores?
And this isn’t the first time the Indian Muslim is being subjected to this ‘loyalty test’. During the Kargil War or during 26/11, it’s the Indian Muslim who needs to come out and assure the rest that our hearts do not beat for those who live on the other side of the Line of Control. (If Bal Thackeray had his way, he would want everyone to believe that Indian Muslims were praying for Pakistan and not India to win the 2011 Cricket World Cup!!!) My simple question is only this- Do Pakistan sponsored terrorists differentiate between Indian Hindus and Indian Muslims when they open fire and engage in wanton killing like they did at the Chatrapati Shivaji Terminus in Mumbai on 26/11? Haven’t Indian Muslims laid down their lives for protecting the sovereignty of India? Haven’t enough of India’s Muslim sons and daughters made their motherland proud? If yes, then why is the Indian Muslim required to wear a badge of being Anti-Pakistan or in this case Anti-Osama to show that he does not condone Islamist Terror?
These questions may seem innocuous to those who subscribe to the mindset propagated by the likes of Bal Thackeray, Narendra Modi and Arnab Goswami but they leave an indelible mark on the psyche of the Indian Muslim. Ironically and unfortunately, it’s the bullets and shrapnel from the Pakistani terrorists that carries a greater validification for the loyalty and sense of belonging of the Indian Muslim than people we thought are our own. At least they look at us no differently than other Indians and they snuff out our lives without sitting in judgment over our patriotism.
Jai Hind.
(The author is law graduate from Pune’s Indian Law Society and political activist)