On May 23rd, the Government of India (GOI) released an extraordinary report on national security that could be considered the most important official document issued by the current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. 

The four-member Group of Ministers, headed by Home Minister L.K. Advani, a BJP hardliner, prepared a report entitled, "Reforming the National Security System." Other members included then Defense Minister George Fernandes, current Defense and Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. In other words, three-fourths of the group were from the nationalist Hindu BJP, and the other member was from an allied party that lost its way on the long journey from socialism to the tehelka.com corruption exposé, a scandal in which top Indian defense officials were caught on videotape taking bribes from fake defense industry representatives.

The GOM was set up in April of last year to review security in the wake of the Kargil fiasco, in which India was caught napping. It was required to present a report within six months. This was later extended by another five months. Finally, the report was presented last February, after going through the pangs of 27 meetings, in which National Security Advisor Brajesh Mishra also participated as a special invitee. Mishra, too, is under a cloud after the tehelka.com exposé, and may soon lose his national security post.

Reportedly, the May 23rd report is highly censored and has had many passages deleted from it. It tried to identify "risk factors" for internal security. Since, as of yet, it is not a public document, we must rely on what the Indian "national media" has reported. Here is a report that appeared in the Delhi edition of the May 24th edition of Asian Age:

Muslims and Madarsas have been identified as risk factors for internal security by the Group of Ministers in their report on reforming the national security system.

The report says, 'A recent phenomenon is the mushrooming of pan - Islamist militant outfits with links to radical organizations in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and some other West Asian countries. Funded by Saudi and Gulf sources, many new Madarsas have come up all over the country in recent years, especially in large numbers in the coastal areas of the west and in the border areas of West Bengal and Northeast. Reports of systematic indoctrination of Muslims in the border areas in fundamentalist ideology is detrimental to the country's communal harmony.'

The report has clearly stated that the secessionist movements in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere in the country are being transformed into a pan-Islamic movement against India. 'The Taliban success in Afghanistan has brought about a qualitative change in the security environment of the region. It has also given rise to groups of Jihadi forces. These forces are unlikely to stop in Afghanistan and Pakistan. These bands of religious fanatics are indulging in subversive activities and have expansionist designs. They will work relentlessly for the break up of the Indian union.

The report has indicated that the situation in Punjab needs to be kept under close watch. 'Many pro-Khalistan militants continue to enjoy shelter in Pakistan and there are reports of plans to revive terrorism in Punjab. Subversive propaganda is being aired from Pakistani Punjab. The appointment of a former head of the ISI [Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence] as chairman [a Muslim] of the Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee in Pakistan is an indicator of Pakistan's malafide intentions,' the report states.

Referring to the internal security environment in J&K, the report has attacked Pakistan for pursuing a multi-pronged strategy to destabilize India. 'Militancy is a direct consequence of the unremitting efforts of Pakistan's covert agencies, particularly the ISI to exploit the prevailing discontent and destabilize the established authority by creating an anarchic situation.'

This report attempts to assert that the entire 150 million member Indian Muslim community (through so-called fundamentalist movements and mushrooming madrasas) is a threat to India's internal security. Bangladeshi migrants have been identified as the second major source of insecurity. Their numbers have been put at "15 million" (it is not clear how this figure has been arrived at). These migrants are Muslims as well and, if the GOM is to be believed, they are all busy leading lives as agents of Pakistan's military intelligence (ISI), or as smugglers, criminals and agents of foreign powers. In addition to Pakistan and Afghanistan, the usual suspects, these foreign powers are identified as "certain Muslim countries": namely Saudi Arabia, Sudan and "Gulf" countries. Ironically, the very same GOI is currently going out of its way to improve relations with Muslim and Gulf countries.

The major thrust seems to be a more vigorous campaign against Muslims in India's northeast region, where there are efforts to lump the indigenous Muslim population with some economic migrants from neighboring Bangladesh. Similar migrants from Nepal are said to pose no security risk, as they are Hindus.

This kind of irresponsible generalization was hitherto the hallmark of the ultra-nationalist Hindu Sangh Parivar led by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). With this development, it becomes the first time that such statements enjoy the Indian state's stamp of approval, due to the fact that it is ruled by a coalition led by the BJP, the political facade of the RSS. 

The offer of "work permits" for illegal Bangladeshi immigrants, and a Home Ministry order requiring immigrant hosts to register the names of their foreign guests with the police, is a logical part of steps the GOI will take to tackle such "internal security risks." However, as a result of strong media protests, the order has now been conveniently modified so that the middle classes are out of its purview. In its current incarnation, it now applies only to guests from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan. In other words, it mostly applies to Muslims, since the overwhelming majority of both such hosts and guests will be Muslim.

The omens are clear. India under the BJP is steadily moving towards becoming a fascist state where the "Other" will be actively and vigorously identified and persecuted by official agencies. Since madrasas and mosques, which have posed no threat throughout the centuries and which played a very active role in India's freedom struggle, are now regarded as enemy hideouts and ISI centers, an era of active persecution will begin, where the onus of proof of innocence will be on the victims, not on accusers and persecutors. To set the record straight, it is mostly Hindus who are caught spying for Pakistan, though these incidents are hushed up, and the identities of the accused are suppressed when they do not belong to a "particular community," a euphemism used by the Indian media for Muslims.

Various Muslim organizations have already expressed alarm. Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, rector of Darul Uloom Deoband, has expressed deep anger at this blatant negation of Muslims' patriotism and their services to India's freedom struggle. For its part, the Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat (Qasimi group) has called for an all-India convention on June 24th to discuss the ramifications of the new policy, which will soon take shape since the GOI has already accepted the report. Dark days lie ahead, not just for Indian Muslims, but also for the entire Indian state if it succumbs to the unfounded paranoia of saffronite zealots who are converting phobias into state policy. It is a wake-up call for Indian Muslims. Indian Muslims, who are fast becoming victims of hate and counter-hate phenomenon, which in turn is harming the larger interests of the country. 

The Hindu communalist may gloat over the massacre of more than a thousand Muslims in Gujarat. But he has betrayed the very faith of which he claims to be a devotee. He has disowned Gandhi and rejected his legacy of non violence. Moreover, he has justified the bestial killings and looting as a measure of revenge for the gruesome torching of the kar sewaks in the ill-fated Sabarmati Express. The Ghanchis who did it were illiterate, uncivilised brutes, who were Muslims in name but absolutely ignorant of what Islam stands for. They must pay for their crimes against the helpless, innocent women and children and, according to the Quran, in their life hereafter they will burn in hell forever. But for the madness of those few, why were the innocent Muslims in different parts of Gujarat taken out of their homes and slaughtered mercilessly; their businesses, homes and properties looted by Hindu criminals? In what way were they responsible for what happened in Godhra? The only answer is that they were so brutalised because they were Muslims. It is happening all the time these days. Some Muslims misbehave with some Hindus and the rest of the Muslims have to bear the brunt of the angry Hindus elsewhere. It is thus time for Indian Muslims as a whole to think seriously as to what they should do with those Muslims whose crimes bring about a carnage of such horrendous magnitude on the rest of them. Those who know nothing of Islam are bringing disaster after disaster on the real followers of the religion. The sins of some lunatics in the community are being visited upon the whole people who are completely innocent of such terrible brutalities. This is the worst kind of travesty of justice that Muslims are being made to suffer in India. Instead of confronting the criminal Muslims and saving the rest of the community from the consequences of their lunacy, there are some Muslim fanatics who are working up the spirit of retaliation and generating further ill-will against Hindus. This will cause more alienation between the two communities. The Hindus too are, no less, guilty of fostering and furthering it. Some of them have outdone the worst of Muslim criminals. But while they can get away with it, Muslims in India become the ultimate sufferers. They must, therefore, find a way out to safeguard themselves against the possibility of a calamity such as the one Muslims in Gujarat have suffered. I have written enough about the part Jinnah played in bringing about the division of the country which has ruined Indian Muslims in every respect. His propagation of the pernicious two-nation theory erected such barriers of hate between Hindus and Muslims that it gave a fatal blow to Mahatma Gandhi’s mission of Hindu-Muslim unity. Abul Kalam Azad cried himself hoarse about how this would strike the death-knell for Indian Muslims. But nobody heeded him. After Partition, most of those who took over the leadership of Indian Muslims continued the policy of confrontation against Hindus. They created one crisis after another on issues which had little relevance to the day-to-day existence of Indian Muslims. The result of their aggressive utterances and senseless activities hardly brought any relief to Indian Muslims. On the contrary, their repeated agitations brought in their wake Hindu backlash, causing more misery to Muslims everywhere. More than a decade ago, some of them mounted a countrywide protest against the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case. They forced the then government of Rajiv Gandhi to amend the Constitution and enact a law to give better maintenance to divorced Muslim women. Instead, it encouraged more divorces and threw thousands of young Muslim women on the streets. Worse still, it provoked communal Hindus to organise the Ramjanmabhoomi movement to reassert their supremacy in their motherland. Of late, the so-called jehadis have emerged, who in the name of Islam are murdering innocent Hindus day after day, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir. Backed by Pakistan, their murderous adventures are adding constantly to Hindu hatred against Muslims. In last week’s Outlook, Dilip D’Souza mentions his conversation with a young Hindu student in Sabarmati Ashram. He writes, the young man told him: "‘Eighty per cent of Muslims are terrorists," his lower lip quivering in rage. "They have attacked us here for 55 years."’ He went on and on, avers D’Souza. That is the mindset of many Hindus who are becoming increasingly hostile to Muslims. Some openly talk of enacting a Bosnia here. There are others who quietly propagate that unless Hindus get rid of Muslims, India will never prosper. As a result, a number of Hindus are beginning to look upon Muslims as undesirable Indians. Among the elite and those from the middle-class as well, many Hindus talk of keeping away from Muslims. They have become resentful and even averse to them. Partnerships or collaborations with Muslims in business enterprises are being withdrawn. There is a threat of boycott all around. Too much distrust is growing against the Muslims. Isn’t this in complete contrast to what Swami Vivekananda has said: "Our watchword, then, should be acceptance and not exclusion. Not only toleration, for so-called toleration is often blasphemy, and I do not believe in it. I believe in acceptance. Why should I tolerate? Toleration means that I think that you are wrong and I am just allowing you to live. Is it not blasphemy to think that you and I are allowing others to live? I accept all religions that were in the past and worship with them all." A number of Muslims also persist in their attitude of segregation from Hindus. They discourage social contact with them. They wrongly believe that their religion prohibits them to trust or collaborate with them. They distort Quranic injunctions and misrepresent the prophetic traditions. There is no desire on their part to develop a meaningful relationship with Hindus. Hence the gulf between the two communities is widening. For almost a decade, Muslims have been fighting for Babri masjid. But strangely, they seem unconcerned that hundreds of mosques meanwhile have been destroyed in Gujarat and some parts of Maharashtra like Malegaon. Why is this onslaught taking place on their sacred places? Muslims have to go into the causes and strive to bring about a more congenial atmosphere. Those, who are playing with fire in the name of protecting Islam, must give serious thought to the fact that confrontationist bravado is now proving utterly counterproductive. Muslims are becoming victims of this hate and counter-hate phenomenon, which is also harming the larger interests of the country. Both sides must sit together with leaders who believe in collaboration and harmony. They must make an earnest effort to break once and for all, the walls of hostility so that more bloodshed can be avoided and every Indian is assured of a stable and secure environment which will bring prosperity to all. They must shed their in-built prejudices which breed antagonism and resolve to stop this terrible alienation between the two religious groups, which, even the RSS admits, consists of ‘blood brothers’. A majority of Muslims are supporters of the international fight against mindless terrorism, but have also opposed the US-backed military campaign in Afghanistan which killed hundreds of innocents and have been warning of global instability if the United States attacks Iraq. According to them, the issues such as Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory and Western sanctions against Iraq, Iran, Libya and Sudan has forced some Muslims to 'retaliate' ... through acts of terror, hitting out blindly at the innocents as well as the guilty.

Typically, the solution prevalent these days is to physically fight against the enemy, the Islamic civilization, but unfortunately, the fact remains that anything short of total genocide, the terrorists cannot be militarily defeated.

Allah’s message to his creatures is clear, unequivocal. It has been put in a beautiful couplet by Maulana Rumi, the greatest Sufi that Islam produced:

Too baraaye wasl kardan aamadi

Na baraaya fasl kardan aamadi

(You’ve been sent to unite people...You’ve not been sent to divide people.)

 

Islam and Education: "Islam teaches noble lessons" - by Vasanti Sundaram AS WE all know, there are two categories of youth. I'm very proud of those who are focused about their lives, with education as their first priority. I wish these students a successful future, and pray that God protects them from all sorts of influences, including the unkind barbs being targeted at them currently by the media. "The other category of youth seems to have plucked just the outer leaves of the western civilisation. More than concentrating on living up to their family's and country's expectations, they are more concerned about competing with their peers in terms of what they possess materially. I come across young people who cheat, steal, and even force their parents to incur debts just to be able to live up to false standards. This worries me, deeply. "The government is trying its best to initiate meaningful changes in the education system. However, in my opinion, we're not spending as much as the system demands. A country such as Hong Kong spends around 20-22 percent of their GNP on education. I don't know how much we spend, but I do think we need to invest at least 10-15 percent. If the government's budget does not permit such an investment, then I see no harm in charging our students a certain fee for quality education. "The curriculum too needs to be redrawn. While we do not want our students to lag behind in the world's marketplace, we must also ensure to preserve and protect our culture. Islam teaches noble lessons, and none should judge Islam by the practices of certain ignorant people, or those who are criminals by nature. "It has repeatedly been remarked that the closer you get to Islam, the further you distance yourself from civilisation, and scientific development. I think such statements are ridiculous, and, to a certain extent, I would blame the media for damaging the image of Islam. Of course, I don't entirely blame them because their knowledge of Islam is obtained merely through flippant movies like the Lawrence of Arabia, Road to Casablanca, or Not Without My Daughter. I would recommend these members of the media to educate themselves about Islam, like we have educated ourselves about other religions and cultures. "Having said that, I'm also aware about the existence of yet another faction that has a long term plan to eradicate Islam as it's considered a threat to their domination of the world. Representatives of these factions tailor television programmes in order to present Islam in a very poor light, as being backward and synonymous with terrorism. To these people, I would like to say that Islam has been the reason for some of the world's greatest civilisations, for spreading peace and justice across the rest of the world, and for upgrading the quality of lives of a lot of people. Islam has always fostered the acquisition of knowledge." "Therefore, it's important to integrate an educational system with Islam, with our cultural identity. Schools need to provide a balanced education, and encourage students to work alongside everybody, irrespective of anyone's creed, country, colour, race or culture, and in keeping with the tenets of Islam. To build a good country, you need good people. We need to thank God that we are in a blessed place, and I hope it remains that way." - VASANTI SUNDARAM in WEEKEND edition of Khaleej Times on Jan 11 -2002.