A terror cell has recently been busted in Bangalore, the Silicon-Valley of India(no, it has nothing to do with certain implants in strategic areas). With the arrest of an MBBS student last month followed by an engineer working for a software firm, it appears now even educated Indian Muslims are in danger of radical indoctrination.
An idiot and a misguided fool makes life difficult for the rest of us. No one can deny that terrorism in the name of Islam is a big problem , not only for the world community, but even more so for Islam itself. But Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. Its the ideologies of terror who derive inspiration from Islam that are creating all the trouble. There is a simple reason why the argument that the Quran or Islam is the cause of terrorism is fallacious. There are a billion plus Muslims in the world. If even ten percent were involved in terrorism , streets would be bathed in blood.
Terrorism like most other things is a political weapon. Other than the Palestine cause there was no other movements which could be labelled terrorists for much of the twentieth century. Then came the Soviets who attacked USSR and suddenly radical Islam seemed to be a new weapon against communism for those in power. So the Mujahideen were funded , trained and armed to take on the Soviet army. The funds did not come from Muslim countries. They came from the west.Paradox aint it. And they did win. The deserts of Afghanistan still contain the bodies of thousands of Soviet soldiers. They died as pawns fighting a war that was just a game between two superpowers. 2000 soldiers are still missing in action nearly 25 years after the war ended.
These mujahideen after the win had nowhere to go . So they migrated to every hotzone possible.
Pakistan used terrorism as a political weapon to spread insurgencies in various parts of India especially Punjab and Kashmir. The 20 year militancy has killed over 20000 people in Kashmir itself.
Many people claim terrorism is in Islam is in the name of Muslims itself. And so moderates must stand up and protest. However much mainstream muslims try to distant themselves from the fringe elements, it is seemingly not enough.
They do not accept the fact that things are being done within the community in many places. Also Islam is not all that homogenous a religion as many would like to beleive it. There are sects and there are ideologies and Islam varies from country to country.
Things could always be better. But the fact remains Islam has no united leadership. In India itself since independence there has been no tall Muslim leader.So whatever changes are being made are being done in rather trying circumstances.
So find the fringe elements and prosecute them as law allows. But don't go overboard and make the average Muslim feel humiliated and threatened. No one wins if the authorities lose the battle of hearts and minds.
The reason is simple . Islam teaches loyalty to both the religion and state. Both of these loyalties go hand in hand. The loyalty to the state is a powerful force. So the police and investigating teams must be sensitive enough not to make innocents question their loyalties. Also a lot of people and organizations are trying to reform Islam, improve the levels of education , encourage dialog etc. Don't suspect these organizations because they work with muslims.
It must be remembered that the terrorist philosophies are just those -philosophies. Indian Islam in particular has a lot of emphasis on tolerance and cohesiveness of humans as a race. It's Sufism.
In the end I say one thing. When a terrorist act occurs, punish the offenders. Know the fact I don't support violence.
Because the terrorist were terrorists.
The violence wasn't in my name. Because I never gave them the power. Ever.
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