“REORIENTATION OF THE
ATTITUDE OF INDIAN MUSLIMS TOWARDS PAKISTAN AND PAKISTANIS”
by S.M.PASHA *
It will be
nothing but sheer hypocrisy if one denies that the attitude of the hardcore
communal elements amongst the non-Muslims in our country ( who, fortunately, do
not constitute a majority) is not merely callous but openly hostile. This kind of attitude poses a grave problem
and the problem affects almost every aspect of the lives of the members of the
majority community as well as the members of the Muslim minority
community. Whilst Indian Muslims have a
sort of sentimental attachment for Pakistan
, rabidly communal non-Muslims hate Pakistan
for reasons, which they take and even proclaim to be just, reasonable, expedient and patriotic. The open wars waged by Pakistan in the past
and the present proxy armed conflicts in the form of cross-border terrorist
activities have highlighted the problem in all its gravity and the gravity of
the problem calls for an urgent and honest reappraisal of the attitudes. If this is not done, the Nation will not be
able to march towards emotional National integration, which is the foundation
of communal harmony, social peace and effective defence of the country’s sovereignty and consequently
enhancement of its prosperity.
During the
Indo-Pakistan wars, Indian Muslims did not create any disturbance of any kind
whatsoever – overt or covert – in the nature of sabotage as a token of their
support or sympathy for Pakistan
. On the other hand, they rose as one
man to defend their Motherland and to contribute the maximum they could
contribute for the success of the country.
This glorious demonstration of
their spontaneous, courageous and noble
action ought to have laid to rest all suspicions about their loyalty to
the country. Alas! It did not. The
suspicion, the hatred and the hostility of the hard core communal elements
amongst the majority community continued and still continues so much so, these anti-national
elements have gone to the extent of coercing Muslims to exhibit and prove their
loyalty to India by adopting non-Muslim names like Rama Pasha or Krishna Khan
and the like. If a Muslim face is seen, for them, it is like the fierce ringing
of an alarm bell to warn them: “here is a fifth columnist, a secret Pakistani
I.S.I agent and in their parlance a ‘ghaddar’”. The more the religious look and
the more symptomatic the dress of a Muslim, the more convincing it is
considered by such bigots as a sound reason to harass, humiliate, and even man-handle or go to the extent of
finishing him or her off Leave alone the
commoners, men and women of repute are not spared. It is not the commoners
amongst the hard core non-Muslim fundamentalists alone who are hostile towards
their non-Muslim compatriots. What is
still more distressing is that the attitude of the intelligentsia amongst
non-Muslims is equally hostile. Though
the latter do not openly and aggressively trouble Muslims it looks as if they
rejoice if and when Non-Muslim communal
elements “teach Muslims a lesson” since in their view “a Muslim is after
all a Muslim and nothing good can be expected of him”.
As stated
earlier, the attitude of Indian Muslims towards Pakistan
and the attitude of non-Muslims in the country towards Muslims are
inter-linked. Hence, let us examine the attitude of Muslims towards Pakistan
. Is it the same as it is towards any
other Muslim country like Arabia , Turkey
, Egypt , Iraq
or Bangladesh
? The simple and true answer is a big
NO. It is definitely different. The
attitude towards Arabia is one of religious reverence inasmuch as the holy
cities of Makkah and Madina and “Kaaba: are located there; towards Turkey, one
of nostalgic memories of the historic “Khilafath”; towards Iraq out of hatred
towards the U.S.A. for its aggression on that Muslim land and out of admiration
for Saddam Hussain , who, in their view was a modern day David who faced
bravely against the modern day Goliath viz., America; towards Egypt, out of appreciation for the great seat of Islamic learning – the
Al-Azhar University; towards Bangladesh,
because of the linguistic and cultural
links. But the attitude towards Pakistan
is what arises out of blood-ties and
dearest and closest relationship.
There were and still are several
families , which have been split because of the Partition; if a
grandfather or father is here, the grandson or the son is there; if a grandma or mother is here, a grand
daughter or daughter is there; if a brother is here, a sister is there and so
on and so forth. Therefore, it but
natural for Indian Muslims to have feelings of goodwill for the prosperity and
stability of Pakistan
and the peaceful existence of Pakistanis.
As a matter of fact, it will be an unnatural and gross violation of the
Law of Nature if such natural feelings of affection and sympathy do not exist
in the hearts of Indian Muslims. The
reflexes of the communal-minded non-Muslims in India
are very much diametrically opposite and divided. The reflexes are not even neutral but out and
out prejudiced and hostile. If any
tragedy occurs in Pakistan or if any news of disturbances is heard, it gladdens
the hearts of the fundamentalists among the majority community, whilst it is
extremely difficult, if not impossible for the Indian Muslims to look upon the
tragedy in Pakistan with composure for the simple reason that their kith and
kin, near and dear ones are involved in the happening. Thus it is clearer than daylight that the
reaction of Indian Muslims is a reaction not primarily to Pakistan
as an Islamic country but as a country where reside their near and dear ones
with whom they have sentimental attachment.
It is imperative that this fact should be clearly understood by
non-Muslims because once this fact is realized and once the genuineness of the
sentiments of Indian Muslims is appreciated in the right and proper context, a
solution is near at hand. Unawareness of
the deeper and dividing reflexes causes emotional conflicts. A dispassionate analysis of the situation
will make it clear that a two-way or two-front approach will facilitate the
finding of a solution. If and when
non-Muslims in the country in general and the hardcore elements amongst them
particularly realize that the bonds of Indian Muslims with Pakistan are only of
the nature of a blood-tie, a great deal
of tension, born out of misunderstandings and baseless suspicion is bound to
disappear.
It will not
be out of context if it is pointed out that
the approach of Indian Muslims to this problem is rather tame and cowardly.
Indian Muslims, fed up with sharp tongue lashings and endless innuendos and overt as well as covert
insults heaped on them by the fundamentalist non-Muslims and scared of their open and veiled threats,
pretend as if they are neither interested in nor concerned with Pakistan
and Pakistanis. They, at times,
hypocritically, attempt to display their lack of interest in Pakistan
and Pakistanis by condemning Pakistan
and ridiculing Pakistanis without rhyme
or reason., vociferously and vituperatively in and out of season. In short, Indian Muslims and their leaders
have miserably failed to face the situation squarely with honesty and moral
courage.
As far as the members of the majority community are
concerned, it is ridiculous and unjust
on their part to expect or demand that the Muslim minority community should prove its loyalty to India
by cutting off once for all its links
with Pakistan
and Pakistanis. The former fail to understand that there is nothing wrong in
the latter feeling prayerfully for the safety and the prosperity of Pakistan
because their relatives are there. Thus,
the fault lies partly with those who do not realize the naturalness
of that natural attraction of Indian Muslims towards Pakistan
and Pakistanis and partly with the Muslims themselves who, to save their skins, and in their anxiety to be
considered loyal citizens follow a sort of an “appeasement” course. This course
of action is a clumsy devise to hide the inner heart. It may also be termed as
a “conscious camouflage” . The vibrations of the inner heart are too loud and
clear to be hidden. When Indian Muslims
do not truly give expression to their true inner feelings towards Pakistan
and Pakistanis, non-Muslims take the professions of the former of indifference
towards Pakistan
and Pakistanis to be bogus.
Unfortunately, non-Muslims do not realize that there is no inconsistence
in an Indian Muslim being at heart fully and really loyal to India
– his or her homeland - and also
simultaneously wishing the prosperity of Pakistan
– the homeland of his or her ear and dear ones.
The
imperative need of the hour for Indian
Muslims is that they must leave the path of psychological cowardice and
hypocritical camouflaging. They must
fearlessly and in a straight-forward manner explain their genuine love for
their near and dear ones in Pakistan
. They should voice it openly and not
feel guilty about it This course will create a new force ad this new force will
prove to be a force for peace in the Indo-Pak sub-continent. In addition to this, they must advance one
step further and become the vanguard of that positive force. Such a fresh appraisal of the entire situation calls for a complete
reorientation of the manner in which they express their attitude towards Pakistan
and Pakistanis. If this done, non-Muslims in India
will realize that Indian Muslims are speaking the language of their inner heart
and that there is no hypocrisy or treachery involved in their attitude. Such a reorientation will surely remove the
cobwebs of distrust and suspicion. Yet another important result of such a
reorientation will be the creation of a congenial climate for Pakistanis to respond in an equally sympathetic,
straight-forward manner and courageously demand of their rulers to keep their
relations with India and Indians on a friendly, tension-free, non-conflict
level. Thus the desire for peaceful and
cordial relations between Pakistan and
India will become a two-way traffic and
God-willing it will not remain an empty dream.
* The author is the President of the MUSLIM MEDIA TRUST based at Chennai and can
be reached at:esempee2000@ yahoo.com
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muslim-journalist/message/1269
