A diluted anti-terror appeal

It would have been helpful if the conference had equally vehemently exhorted that no madrassa in India should harbour a single extremist preacher giving sermons of intolerance towards other faiths or, for that matter, other Muslim sects. Similarly, its anti-terrorism call would have acquired greater credibility if it had explicitly condemned Al-Qaeda, called upon Pakistan not to export terrorism, through the ISI and several terrorist bodies operating from its soil, and simultaneously called upon the Muslim community to be vigilant about their recruits operating from our own soil. After all, terrorist groups cannot act or survive without local help. Whether the Government is that of the Congress or the BJP, security forces have to do their jobs diligently — nab suspects, conduct investigation and bring culprits to justice.

True, innocent persons must not be ill-treated. But can the anti-terrorism drive of the Indian state, irrespective of which party is in power, be effective if roadblocks are placed at every step along this path? Don’t we know how TADA and POTA were dubbed anti-Muslim? Isn’t it a fact that the police are facing difficulties in investigating the cases pertaining to the serial bomb blasts in Mumbai trains and those near mosques in Malegaon and Hyderabad? A reliable source said to me last week that a senior Congress leader in Karnataka told the state police chief to ‘go slow’ in investigating the recently revealed cases about SIMI’s network of pro-terror elements in colleges and IT companies. The Deoband conference’s declaration would have been hailed more enthusiastically if it had called for exemplary punishment, as already pronounced by the Supreme Court, to those who plotted the attack on Parliament, the most important symbol of the Indian state.

Despite these comments, I welcome Darul Uloom’s recent initiative. Let it be followed up with similar widely publicised meets and declarations in every city and town. And let there also be a debate between the conference’s participants and all mainstream political parties, including the BJP, aimed at removing mutual misconceptions and strengthening the nation’s fight against terrorism.

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