Keep the peace
This post is about the Indian High Court ruling in the Babri Masjid case, and after that sane people’s advice to their respective communities to remain peaceful and calm. And here I’m going to quote one letter to the editor, which was published in letter to editor section of the DAWN and a leading bollywood’s actress[former Miss World] priyanka chopra’s article. The article and letter both suggest tranquility, serenity and harmony.
Peace between communities
Coincidentally, Iqbal Jafar’s and Kuldip Nayar’s articles have appeared in your newspaper(DAWN) side by side (Oct 8).
Both have given good advice to their respective communities — Muslim and Hindu.
Mr Jafar in his article, “Muslims of South Asia” has advised Muslims to emerge from a sterile mindset created by a “mismatch of global dreams and local realities”.
Further he has advised the Muslims — especially Indian Muslims — to launch a movement for peace and reconciliation between Hindus and Muslims.
He argued that if the Europeans had given up mutual bloodshed and are now living as good neighbours why cannot we also learn from them in South Asia for the sake of mutual prosperity?
Similarly Kuldip Nayar has advised (mainly the Hindus) not to take the same road of conflict and bloodshed being traversed since independence but look towards a brighter future by harnessing science and technology for the progress of the people of South Asia.
If the Hindus and Muslims wish to avoid colliding into the juggernaut of extremism they will do well to heed carefully the advice of thinkers like Iqbal Jafar and Kuldip Nayar instead of hankering about a glorious past.
Too much time and intellectual energy of South Asian scholars has been wasted on writing on “superiority” of respective cultures.
It is time now to emerge from the mindset of past centuries caused by the mismatch of “global dreams and local realities” referred by the authors.
The question now to be asked is what to do for a better tomorrow?
AZAM ISMAIL
Karachi
Source:DAWN
My ideal lady gorgeous Priyanka Chopra also called for peace before decision on Babri Mosque, she has mentioned in her article that for the sake of maintaining peace and harmony, please react sensibly or think rationally , just to avoid strong reaction and clashes. She writes
“As I write this column, the verdict on the Babri Masjid title suit has not been announced and we are three days away from the start of the Commonwealth Games. Though seemingly unrelated, individually and collectively, these 2 ‘events’ are likely to have a huge impact on us as a nation. And with these unrelated events, the only binding factor, is us, the citizens of India. Our decisions and how we react is going to be critical.I would rather not ‘guess’ which way the verdict will go, but I would like to reiterate something I said last week. As the youth who are driving this country to the next level, if we decide to commit ourselves to the judicial process, then we can create platforms to raise our voice in agreement or dissent rather than raise our hands in violence. Let’s keep the peace please.With the Commonwealth Games, reams of news print and loads of TV time have laid bare the embarrassingly dismal situation and sheer disregard of the an ineffective leadership. But it’s time now that we put it all behind us. The games are ON and we are the HOSTS. Nothing we do now can change that. So, we have to rally together and make the best of this situation. As Indians, tradition has always demanded “Atithi Devo Bhava” and now it’s time to actualise that. But more importantly I believe that we need to bring some positivity to the games. Let’s deal with the situation when the games are over, let’s hang out the dirty linen then… but now, we have to come together and show the world that irrespective of the hurdles, we can do what we set out to do. If nothing else, just lend your voice in support.”
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Build a Babri temple in Pakistan
By Hamid Mir
Why are so many Pakistanis staging rallies against the verdict of an Indian court about Babri Mosque? This question is agitating my mind eversince I saw some protest rallies in Karachi and Lahore on many television channels immediately after the verdict of the Allahabad High Court was announced. No doubt many Pakistanis feel that the verdict is not “legal” but “political”. I was quite disturbed to watch one late night TV show on September 30 in which a friend of mine claimed that “no Hindu temple ever came under attack in Pakistan but Hindus have destroyed many mosques in India”.
Dozens of Hindu temples were attacked in Pakistan after the demolition of the Babri Mosque in 1992. If the demolition of the mosque was wrong then, attacks on Hindu temples in Pakistan were also wrong and we must not try to hide our wrongdoings under the cover of the Allahabad High Court verdict. Thank God, there are some bold and brave analysts in Pakistan who said that we should not play politics in the name of the Babri Mosque. Majority of Pakistani TV channels did not behave like the Indian channels did after the Mumbai attacks.
This is the first time that the Pakistani media did not try to spread hatred against Hindus. The coverage of Pakistan’s biggest private news channel, Geo TV, was very balanced. It highlighted the views of all the three judges on the bench of the Allahabad High Court, including a Muslim Judge Sibghatullah Khan, who also favoured trifurcation of Ayodhiya land. Majority of Pakistani Muslims belong to Sunni Barelvi school of thought. Noted Sunni Barelvi scholar Mufti Muneebur Rehman appeared in the main news bulletin of Geo TV on the night of September 30, 2010 and said that the Allahabad High Court verdict was political but he appealed to the Indian Muslims to “control their sentiments and avoid violence in the name of Islam”. Mufti Muneebur Rehman should also ask the Pakistani Muslims that they too must not play in the hands of those who are trying to unleash violence in the name of Babri Mosque.
I remember how Hindu temples were attacked in Pakistan after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. As a young reporter, I covered many such incidents in Lahore. The extremist groups fully exploited the situation to create an impression that all Indian Hindus were enemies of the Indian Muslims, which was not the case. Till 2001, the Babri Masjid remained the favourite subject of many religious extremist groups and writers in Pakistan.
But the 9/11 changed the whole perspective and the focus of Pakistani extremist groups shifted from India to USA. The Babri Masjid dispute lost its importance in Pakistan after the attack of the Pakistan Army on Lal Masjid in Islamabad in 2007. Majority of the Pakistani Muslims rightly or wrongly felt that Pervez Musharraf used the Lal Masjid operation to divert the people’s attention from the lawyers’ movement in support of the deposed Chief Justice. Many Muslim scholars wondered how could they justify attack on a Masjid in Islamabad in the name of war against terror.
The Lal Masjid operation fuelled militancy in Pakistan and the militants launched suicide attacks against security forces all over the country and even targeted those mosques where security forces officials used to offer prayers. How can one forget the images of mosques destroyed in Swat, Buner, Dir, and in many other areas of Pakistan, which were destroyed by Muslims themselves, not by Hindus? Most of these mosques became target of suicide bombers. And then who can forget the attack on the Parade Lane Mosque in Rawalpindi, which was attacked by the bearded militants and the Taliban accepted the responsibility of the attack?
Let us admit that more mosques were destroyed in Pakistan by Muslim militants than by Hindu extremists in India. Let the Indian Muslims and Hindus resolve their dispute legally. We must not do politics in the name of Babri Mosque. As Pakistanis, we must try to give more legal, political and moral protection to our minorities. I have already suggested to many friends in the government and in the opposition parties that we should take more care of Pakistani Hindus, Sikhs and Christians. We must allow them to build as many temples and churches as they want. We must discourage the powerful land mafia in Pakistan who always tries to grab the lands of Hindu temples and churches in different areas of Sindh and the central Punjab.
Extremism is a state of mind. Extremists have no religion but some times they act in the name of Islam, some times in the name of Hindu dharma and some times in the name of Christianity. We must condemn all of them. We must not forget that Zaheerudin Babar not only built mosques but also many Hindu temples across India. We can build one Hindu temple in his name. It will send a very positive message across the border. When the Hindus demolished one Babri Mosque in 1992, Pakistanis retaliated by attacking many Hindu temples in Pakistan. When an Indian court divided the land of Babri Mosque among Hindus and Mulims in 2010, Pakistanis should not retaliate but build a Hindu temple. It will not be a sign of weakness. It will be a goodwill gesture and the Indians will believe that Pakistan is changing and they too should change their way of thinking.
Source: http://www.thenews.com.pk/02-10-2010/Top-Story/1024.htm