ALI SUKHANVER

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Some times the hunter becomes the hunt and the gunner himself becomes a target. A few weeks back an international conference on terrorism was organized at Vigyan Bhavan, India. Most of the speakers were well known scholars and lawyers from all over the world. Everything was going smooth but suddenly it all became very bitter and tense when the former Union Law Minister and senior lawyer, Ram Jethmalani, alleged that ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”WahabismƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ was responsible for terrorism throughout the world. In his address, Mr. Jethmalani, who is president of the All-India Senior Advocates Association, said: ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Unfortunately in the 17th century, they produced an evil man in Saudi Arabia by the name of Wahab, who was concerned about the decline of the Muslim world, but he hit upon a wrong remedy.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ He alleged that the Wahabi terrorism instilled rubbish in the minds of young people to carry out terrorist attacks.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  He further said ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-India had friendly relations with a country that supported Wahabi terrorism,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Saudi ArabiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s Ambassador to India Faisal-al-Trad was also among the guests. He protested the statement of Jethmalani and expressed his strong resentment simply by going out of the conference hall. According to the daily Hindu, Adish C. Aggarwala, chairman, All-India Bar Association and joint organiser of the conference, tried his utmost to clarify the situation by saying that JethmalaniƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s views were not those of the government but of the speaker himself.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ The statement of Jethmalani must be an eye-opener not only to the Muslims but to all the forces which claim to struggle for the world peace and social harmony. This type of statement must not be taken as a slip of tongue or an innocent misunderstanding; it is all very carefully planned. According to the media reports different intelligence agencies of the world have constituted various think tanks of scholars and philosophers whose responsibility is to spread hatred against the Muslims all over the world. Mr. Jethmalani also seems one of their tools. How unfortunate is the situation that entire Islam is being blamed for terrorism as a religion!

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Mr. Jethmalani has a very disgusting background regarding his hatred for the Muslims. At present he is representing the Anil Ambani group RNRL in the Ambani brothersƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ gas dispute in the Supreme Court of India. In one of his arguments in the court, once he said referring to the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The government of India intends to bring gas from the countries which supported terrorism.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ Describing the Non-Aligned Movement as evil, he said ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-India should align with the forces of good to combat evil forces. India and its Foreign Ministers must learn to re-assess the doctrines of the past. IndiaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s foreign policy establishment should be courageous to shun the countryƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s relationships with its enemies.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ All these statements and arguments of Mr. Jethmalani reflect a very narrow minded and prejudice type of approach but it does not mean that we start blaming Hinduism for his stupid remarks.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ Linking terrorism to a particular religious community in itself is a kind of terrorism. The fact is that terrorism has now become a universal problem. The terrorists have no identity. They own nothing, neither a religion nor a region. Be it an old man or an innocent child, a fairy-like little girl or a helpless woman, it makes them no difference. Their only aim and object is to promote harassment and fear. It is nothing but an evil intention to link terrorism with Islam. One can find a long list of terrorists who are the Hindus, the Jews, the Christians and no doubt the Muslims by creed. Terrorism cannot be attributed to any particular religion, as no religion teaches terrorism. Be it Islam or Hinduism, terrorism is nowhere encouraged or appreciated. We have the best example of Pakistan where almost all segments of society are condemning the terrorist activities carried out in the name of Islam. Recently a video message from the Al-Qaida leaders also came to the surface in which every type of terrorism was condemned.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ No sect of the Muslims supports terrorism. The Brailvis, Deobandis, Shias or as referred by Mr. Jethmalani, the Wahabis, none believes in terrorism. Islam is a message of peace and calm and no one believing in the philosophy of Islam can ever favour terrorism. Following the philosophy and teachings of Islam, Pakistan is doing its best to crush the menace of terrorism. Countless soldiers and officers of the Pakistan army have laid their lives in their attempt to crush terrorism. If anti-terrorism efforts were not an inseparable part of the philosophy of Islam, they would have never sacrificed their precious lives. Labeling the Muslims as the Terrorists is a part of the Western strategy.ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚  For the last twenty years, the western media, under the guidance of CIA and Mussad, has been trying its best to defame the Muslims and Islam. In the South-Asian region the Indian intelligence agency Raw is safeguarding the interests of these agencies. Look at the Mumbai Blasts and the horrible attacks on the Samjhota Express and the Maligaon Attacks; all these incidents were nothing but futile attempt to defame the Muslims. A very interesting thing is that after every act of terrorism, some of the RAW spokesmen start blaming Pakistan or the Muslim activist groups of India without any proof and without any investigation.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In an article ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-Bomb Blasts do not Prove Muslims Terrorists,ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚ published in the Rashtriya Sahara, July 18, 2008, a senior Indian journalist Zafar Agha criticized Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh for choking the voice raised by Union Ministers Arjun Singh and A.R. Antulay regarding bomb attacks on RSS headquarters. These Ministers held the Hindu extremists responsible for these blasts. The sole purpose behind was to defame Muslims,. The HRD Minister Arjun Singh based his argument on a report on the so-called attack on RSS headquarters submitted by a retired judge of Mumbai High Court who had come to the conclusion that the Sangh Parivar itself was behind the ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”attackƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. While A.R. Antulay cited another report which showed Hindu extremists making bombs in Nanded disguised as Muslims to defame them.

ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ ƒÆ’-¡ƒ”š‚ In spite of all these facts and figures, people like Jethmalani are blaming Wahabism for the spreading terrorism; really a very strange paradox. He must cast a look at the intentionally forgotten story of Colonel Prohat and the Gujarat fame ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”honourableƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ Narender Moodi; world recalls them as a dark blob on the face of humanity. And certainly neither they are Pakistanis nor the Muslims.

The writer is a Pakistan based bilingual analyst on international defense and strategic affairs.