By M Reyaz and Mudassir Rizwan, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi/Patna: In the moment of grief, most Indians have stood in solidarity with the families of victims of the brutal Peshawar killings, where in a desperate attack Taliban terrorists killed over 140 persons, including 132 school children of a school run by Pakistan army.
Barring a few Islamophobes who rejoice death, Indian Muslims, clerics, intelligentsia and commoner alike expressed shock and grief at what they termed the Peshawar attack of December 16 as the ‘height of barbarity’. On social media, mainly Twitter, #IndiaWithPakistan has been trending since last night.
Candle light vigil in India by school children(Courtesy: NDTV)
“Words are not sufficient to condemn yesterday’s barbarous attack on school children in Peshawar, Pakistan, which snuffed out lives of 142 defenseless innocent persons mostly students. Tahrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the terrorist organisation responsible for this attack must be crushed and eliminated without mercy,” said Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, the national president of the apex body of Indian Muslim organisations, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat.
He added that all organisations such as ISIS, Boko Haram and Al-Qaeda, are terrorist outfits, which mislead the masses in the name of Islam but the pristine and peaceful message of Islam totally disowns their blood-thirsty ideology and tactics.
Condemning States that create such organisations and use “terror” as state policy, Dr Khan said, Pakistan has used terrorism as a policy starting from the creation of the Afghani Taliban and Lashkar-e Toiba to committing blunders like the attack in 2007 on Lal Masjid, which led to the creation of Tahirik-e Taliban Pakistan.
Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam, chairman of the Institute of Objective Studies, has termed the gruesome killings as “reprehensible act of barbarity.”
“We condemn the attack and sympathise with the victims and their families. We also assert that terrorists are nobody’s friend and all kinds of terrorism anywhere on earth – private as well as state-sponsored are reprehensible, equally and unequivocally. Pakistan has virtually become an ungovernable country because of rampant terrorism,” Dr Alam said in a statement.
The latest massacre in Pakistan shows that all countries today have a common mission to stop terrorism together, whatever garb it comes in, which should give us the impetus to increase Indo-Pak cooperation in all fields, including military and security cooperation, besides economic and technological cooperation, he added.
Maulana Mahmood Madani, former Rajya Sabha MP and general secretary of the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, termed the attack on innocent children as un-Islamic. “I condemn yesterday’s heinous act of Peshawar. This is inhuman, and not only un-Islamic but anti-Islam,” he told TCN, adding, forces such as Taliban are giving a bad name to Islam in the whole world.
Maulana Madani also demanded that serious actions must be taken against such groups.
Maulana Anisur Rahman Quasmi, Nazim of Imarat Shariah, Patna, also condemned the attack saying: killing innocent children like this anywhere in the world is unforgiveable and expressed solidarity with the families of deceased. “It’s the responsibility of Pakistan government to provide security to its citizens. Terrorism cannot be part of any religion and government must take stern actions against culprits,” Maulana Quasmi added.
Dr. S.Q.R. Ilyas, National President of Welfare Party of India, said, “Making defenseless and innocent children easy target is nothing but cowardice. There cannot be any justification for this kind of barbaric attack; it is an attack on humanity. We sincerely share the pain and agony of all the affected. We pray for the children who lost their lives.”
Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), in a statement said it “strongly condemned the barbaric and inhuman massacre of innocent school children.” The AMU Vice Chancellor, Lt General Zameeruddin Shah and the entire University Community have expressed their deepest condolences to the families of the martyred children.
Aligarh-based Millat Bedari Muhim Committee (MBMC) and Forum for Muslim Studies & Analysis (FMSA) also jointly condemned the attack. Prof Razaullah Khan, while chairing a a joint meeting said Taliban is indulging in terrorist activities in the name of Islam, but such activities are against Islam and humanism. He urged the Ulemas to issue Fatwa against them.