Can we prevent terror events
by working on trust deficit?
TKP Nair
The Bodhgaya
blasts in close proximity to the unsolved Hyderabad blasts of February, both
suspected to be the handiwork of Indian Mujahideen, are a grim reminder of the ability of terror groups operating in India
to strike at any place and time of their choosing, without the fear of being
pre-empted or effectively investigated by the Indian anti-terrorism machinery (
if it really exists). Such episodes are to be treated also as repeated wake-up
calls for us to come out of our deep slumber and to take a fresh look at our extreme
vulnerability and search for its
underlying reasons. This is at least as important as the steps to be taken on war-footing to beef
up our deplorably loose intelligence network, abysmally tardy state
administration incapable of responding
to intelligence inputs if any, and the utterly unprofessional police forces.
The IM who are the local arm of LET based in Pakistan can not organize such acts
without the committed support of local hosts. The mindset that makes this
possible is undoubtedly the deep mistrust existing among communities in our
country. The solution lies in identifying the sources of such mistrust and
correcting it before it goes out of hand. We need to examine as to where we
erred in our evolution as a pluralistic secular society.
I believe
that the majority of us Indians subscribe to secular beliefs and take pride over the choice made by free India to embrace secularism as the
core principle of its nationhood, even as its estranged twin embraced narrow
religious affiliation for its
nationhood. The Muslim brothers & sisters who remained with India obviously
subscribed to the secular view and trusted that the majority community would
not exploit their minority status and erode their secular beliefs. It is
unfortunate that in the past 65 years after Independence the relationship between the two
communities has not been one that would entirely
promote trust between them , if not due to real issues, at least in perception.
This is in spite of the numerous constitutional provisions written into India ’s comprehensive constitutional framework
which has been continuously evolving, thanks to India ’s democratic traditions, to effect
more and more inclusiveness of the minority communities as well as the
previously marginalized sections of the majority community. The constitution
envisages a society in which various religious groups and communities have
equal opportunities to flourish and live harmoniously together enjoying equal
rights, without any bias whatsoever. We should hopefully be able to attain that
goal in not too distant a future.
Unfortunately
over the years there have been several occasions where there have been conflicts of interest between the majority community
and the minority communities. Many of them have of course been resolved amicably even with
appropriate legislative measures wherever necessary, but it is sad that some of them are left to
fester, causing considerable strain between communities.This is more
significant between the majority community of Hindus and the principal minority
community of Muslims. Some of the issues that keep cropping up time and again
are: Babri Masjid demolition, Godhra Riots, Kashmir Conflict and Terrorism.The
main aggrieved party in all these are our Muslim brethren.
I wonder
why we can’t adopt a radically different approach towards these issues and
settle them once and for all. It of course requires courageous initiatives from
both sides.To begin to resolve these issues we need to take a close look at
them and dispassionately analyze the perspectives of both sides and examine
whether there is any scope for bridging the gap.
I have often
wondered why our Muslim brethren can’t set aside for a moment the emotions
behind the demolition of Babri Masjid and try and understand objectively the
perspective of their Hindu brethren. Of course there is no doubt that the act
of demolition is an act of arrogance and it smacks of complete disregard for
the sentiments of devout Muslims. The leaders of BJP & RSS should have had
a dialogue with Muslim religious leaders about the issue prior to the wanton
act they perpetrated. Dialogue must be the means of achieving any goal where
the interests of multiple sections of society are at loggerheads. Having said
that let us also consider with understanding what the cause of the conflict was. The claim of
the Hindus is that the masjid stood at the place where one of their principal
avatars, namely, Lord Ram was born and ruled
the kingdom of Ayodhya temple
of Ram Mecca or
Madina? India to Hindus is
like Saudi Arabia
to Muslims by virtue of being the land of origin of their respective religions.
Also consider in this context the special favour the Indian
State has been bestowing on its Muslim
subjects by way of funding their annual pilgrimage to Mecca for Haj without bestowing a similar
favour to the majority community. Can’t our Muslim brethren therefore try to
appreciate the genuine sentiments of their Hindu brethren in that spirit and
show a magnanimity of understanding and refrain from raising the issue of
demolition ever in future. They could of course demand a sincere apology from
the Hindus for their high-handed act which was perpetrated apparently without
exploring the option of peaceful settlement through dialogue. Let the Hindus
compensate by building a grand mosque at a mutually acceptable location in the neighbourhood.
I think what prevents this kind of
rapprochement is merely false pride and, perhaps even more
significantly, the fear of mistaking it as
weakness on the part of the aggrieved community. Such a gesture, I sincerely believe, will result in a sea of positive change in the relation between the two communities
and will promote genuine love and trust between them which will replace the present
animosity and suspicion. The sentiment
of brotherhood will further grow a
hundred-fold if only the Muslims boldly come forward and offer to take similar
stance about other principal sacred sites of Hindus, like Varanasi, Mathura, Dwaraka etc. if situations like in Ayodhya prevail
there. To avoid such conflicts in future let the Indian State
Another
conflict site is Godhra. No doubt the riots in Godhra subsequent to the
train-burning episode have been horrendous and could have been effectively
checked if only the Govt. of Gujarat had acted promptly and with determination.
The courts will have to investigate impartially the allegations of inaction and
possible complicity of the Gujarat Govt. and punish the guilty. Action in this
direction has been going on for some time now at the behest of the Supreme
Court and let us hope that the efforts will ultimately yield tangible results.
Now let us pause for a moment and check as to what caused the riots. What
triggered the riots was the train-burning episode in which 59 Hindu karsevaks
who were returning from Ayodhya lost their lives. It was presumed (without
proof at that time) that Muslims did it in vengeance of the demolition of Babri
Masjid. The right thing would have been to investigate the train-burning
incident and to book the culprits and concurrently take all steps to check the
riots that got triggered which could be
anticipated. It could well be presumed that the train-burning was just due to
an accident of electrical short-circuit, in the context of no concrete evidence
at that time to the contrary. (Of
course subsequent investigations clearly brought out that the episode was a
deliberate act of a section of the local Muslim population avenging the Babri
demolition and law has already caught up with them) Deep mistrust between the
two communities and their thirst for revenge were obviously the fundamental
cause of the two tragic episodes. The mistrust accompanied by the misplaced
belief that retribution is the answer to a wrong action of the adversary led to
the terrible catastrophe. It requires courage and statesmanship to initiate a
dialogue when an injustice is perpetrated or is perceived to be perpetrated. Both
communities failed to choose that option.
Now let us
look at the Kashmir conflict which has been
the central issue on which our neighbouring State has been nurturing a
perpetual anti-India stance. It is to be admitted that over this issue our
Muslim brethren have so far not taken a consistent stand favouring their
motherland, which has also contributed significantly to the mistrust existing
between the two communities. Let us look at the issue closely. Our neighbour
holds the view that since J&K is a Muslim majority region it should
rightfully be part of their country. They ignore the fact that religion is not the
core principle of formation of the Indian
State Indian State Kashmir part of J&K in
1947 and thus could have solved the issue once and for all. This didn’t happen because our
first PM who was already a widely-respected world leader and a renowned messiah
of peace referred the conflict to the UN for mediation as he didn’t believe in
applying force to settle any issue between countries. However, the fledgling world body was not strong enough to settle the issue on
ethical and legal grounds and instead offered the so-called ‘plebiscite’ to
ascertain the preference of the people through a neutral referendum. Pakistan however flouted the
requirement of withdrawal of its forces to facilitate the required neutrality making
the UN resolution of 1948 unimplementable. Subsequently our neighbour systematically
worked on the religious sentiments of the people in the Indian region to achieve its goal. When that didn’t
yield results it resorted to jihadi
tactics of killings and intimidation
against people and the democratic institutions in the Indian region. The
persistent instigation by our neighbour, who is yet to give even a semblance of
democratic right to the people inhabiting the region under its occupation, has however
succeeded over the years in promoting voices of liberation among a section of
the people on the Indian side. This section of people seems to be naïve about
the impossibility of retaining independence of J&K (even if India
granted it) in the kind of volatile
neighbourhood it has to cope with on the other side. The irony is that this
festering problem of J&K can be solved instantly if only the Indian
Muslims, who substantially outnumber their co-religionists on the other side,
in one voice endorse the merger of J&K with India as final and proclaim to
the world that they don’t accept the religious majority theory of our neighbour
to claim any part of our country. Such an act will no doubt go a long long way
in reinforcing their relationship with
the majority community.
Now lastly
the Terrorism issue. About the general tendency of branding of the various acts
of terrorism happening in our country as Islamic there is very serious
objection from our Muslim brethren. They are at great pains to declare that
Islamic tenets do not promote terrorist acts. On the contrary Islamic religious
texts categorically prohibit violence as a means of settling any dispute, be it
among their followers or between those from their faith and those outside it.
The Indian Mujahideen and similar outfits are groupings of misguided members of
the religion. If this fact is declared by an authoritative Muslim religious body,
there will be lesser tendency of attributing such activities to the religion.
There should also be serious efforts to wean away erring youngsters from such
unpatriotic outfits. It is true that there have been a few terrorist activities
in the country from outfits populated by youth of the Hindu religion directed
against Muslims or institutions belonging to Muslims. However a close study of
such episodes will reveal that they have been executed as a response to the
episodes involving jihadi groups. If the secular section of our Muslim brethren
take a strong initiative (which is required because the predominant number of such acts are being
executed by the jihadis, either foreign or Indian), then the episodes of
terrorism can be substantially
reduced and thereby the fraternity between the majority
community and the dominant minority community can be significantly boosted.
In the
above narrative I have only tried to take an impassioned look at some of the
major episodes and issues that have unfortunately been at the core of mistrust
between the majority community and the principal minority community. I have
suggested some proactive measures from both sides to enhance mutual fraternal
relationships. Admittedly it is difficult to implement these suggestions since
it necessitates a drastic change in existing mindset of both groups. A
courageous initiative is needed to do that. Liberalists in both communities need to win over the diehards and take control and guide the communities to adopt an unbiased perception of past, present and future events. Neither community should harbour thoughts that the other is bent upon harming its interests. All interactions should be transparent and mutual dialogue should be the means of resolving any differences. Such an initiative will certainly
trigger a positive avalanche effect which will be immensely beneficial to our
complex society. The ‘hate speeches’ from both sides will automatically lose
their audience and belligerent postures from both sides will become a thing of
the past. Terror groups will lose local support and that will ensure their
ultimate defeat.
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