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| Double whammy of terrorism | | |
At a time when New Delhi is setting a visionary trend by initiating talks with its own people in Kashmir and keeping Pakistan at bay from the dialogue before it demonstrates will to curb terrorism against India, a programme on a national news channel this Sunday is an eye opener for the country’s establishment and civil society. Imagined in the backdrop of recent fiasco around alleged harassment of a Kashmiri cricketer on suspicion of terror, the programme on CNN-IBN news channel underlined the troubles Kashmiri Muslims often face in renting a house or seeking education in different parts of country. There is a double whammy. Kashmir, of course, has remained and continues to be a target of terrorism but linking every Kashmiri to the menace does a great disservice by alienating people from the national mainstream. People working against the integrity and sovereignty of the country take such occurrences as handy tools in furthering their propaganda against India. The problem is not only with the Kashmiris or the Muslims. Even those from the North-east too feel harassed when they are unwelcome in the Indian cities where they seek rooms on rent. It is not the outcome of bias against any religion or region. It is the result of terrorist activities in Kashmir and in North-East. The series of bomb blasts in Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore and other towns, including the Batla House incident, have forced landlords to be highly selective. Whether one is a terrorist or not there is hardly any sign on one's face which can determine the character and the antacedents of an individual. People seem to learn from experience. People have come to believe that activists of militant outfits who carry out bomb explosions or gun attacks are usually Muslims and it would be better to keep off these activists and their over ground supporters. When militancy was at its peak in Punjab people in rest of the country would not accept a Sikh as a tenant. After the end of militancy in Punjab Sikh are no longer being viewed with suspicion. One may blame Pakistan for having incited Muslims in Kashmir for launching a jehad. But Pakistan would have not been able to stoke fire in Kashmir had not people like Syed Salahuddin, Mushtaq Zargar, Ashfaq Majid and leaders like Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others implemented Pak plan in letter and spirit without realizing what adverse impact it could have on the Muslims not only in Jammu and Kashmir but in other Indian cities. It is unbelievable but it is true that people like Shabana Azami, a film actress and social activists, and Javed Akhtar, a renowned poet, could not buy a flat of their choice in Mumbai because people in that locality did not want to risk their lives by having a Muslim neighbour. If one has to blame anyone for this do not hold people in that locality guilty but put the blame on the shoulders of Pakistan and then militants, in Jammu and Kashmir. See the irony of fate. Pakistan, that aided terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir, was now itself fighting terrorists, especially the Talibans, in the NWFP and the Swat valley. Let people in Kashmir and the separatists in particular read the warning on the wall and stop creating problems for innocent Muslims
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