Comment
The cracks are being fanned…
Qudsia Kadri
Loss of human lives in any form,
shape and in any attack, any act of subversive activity is not only deplorable
but a tragedy which is extremely difficult for surviving families to deal
with.
The incidence of sudden and natural deaths is traumatic in itself, but when
any act of terrorism is carried out the criminal minds behind the deplorable
killings cannot comprehend the chilling screams behind the earth shaking cries
of the hysterical mother, the sobbing lone child, the nonplussed husband and
father all seem to be like characters out of a horror-ridden play. Going over
many articles written in the Indian Press after the terror attack on the Dehli-Lahore
Samjhota Express, the one which struck an odd chord was a Bangalore based
newspaper column written by Sudha Ramachandran, who is a free lance journalist/researcher
in Bangalore. What amazed us was to read a totally non-detached biased, one
sided perception of a writer who actually believes that Pakistan-based Jihadi's
carried out the attack because they are alarmed by the "corrupting influence"
of Indian popular culture on the Pakistani people. The writer goes on to say
that we in Pakistan have been taught to believe that Muslims in India are
not allowed to observe their religion, and are surprised by the large number
of mosques in India and the freedom the Muslims have to pray. The euphoria
continues with putting Indian Muslims who are going to Pakistan as people
who are disappointed to find that the streets of Karachi and Lahore are not
paved with gold and that they have realized that their future is far brighter
in India's booming economy. The writer has taken pains to describe the feelings
of the people from Jammu and Kashmir who have gone to Pakistan-controlled
Kashmir and returned with stories about "the medieval lifestyles"
of their relatives across the line of control. It was shocking to say the
least to read the author's insinuation of Indian Kashmiris being happy in
their state of daily hounding's by Indian forces, unauthorized search of their
homes, picking up of Muslim young men, torture and daily rape of Muslim girls
and women.
The reasons cited by the writer are so pathetic that one is left wondering
if one is reading fact or fiction. The ignorant writer talks about the attack
on Samjhota Express and states that Pakistanis travel across the border to
watch Indian movies, which are banned in Pakistan. (Has this writer not heard
of all designs and shapes of movies being available to the viewership here).
We read with aghast unbelief the Jihadi's reasons for blowing up the train
can be the "Sari" It says the Sari which is considered by the conservatives
as "Indian and un-Islamic" is staging a comeback as high fashion
in Pakistan, and this gets more annoying and pitiful as the writer goes on
to talk about Bollywood movies and television serials which have promoted
the Sari culture in Pakistan, and Pakistan government's ban on Indian T.V.
channels for fear of the Pakistani entertainment industry from being wiped
out by its "more seductive and popular counterpart." Sudha Ramachandram
further elaborates on Pakistan getting jittery over the Samjhota Express,
because they are passengers carrying home from India items like Saris, bangles,
CDs, beedies, pan masala and tales of a prosperous life in India. The euphoria
becomes more a comedy of the writer's perception-a small petty mind-set of
a grave and despicable act and very serious situation where so called journalists
like the above have their columns on-line to project a theory of Jihadi's
from Pakistan carrying out this crime and to a non-Asian reader the simplistic
viewpoint put forth will hold an easy grasp to understand the so-called Muslim
mind-set.
I was further appalled to read what noted journalist Praveen Swami writes
in The Hindu newspaper, that the "Samjhota Express is a Trojan horse,
a vehicle for the destruction of the project of Pakistan." What is to
be noted here is no laughing matter, the Indian writers, many of them still
refer to the state of Pakistan as an Ideal, as a Project. We are talked about
like an experiment in a laboratory, which went wrong. Swami writes about an
issue of Ghazva, an in-house publication of Lashkar-e-Taiba giving ill-connected
parts of an article published, highlighting the Jihadist concern's regarding
the peace process between India and Pakistan.
Albeit, there are concerns, but not only on the Pakistani side, the incessant
projection of Pakistan's irk by the Indian government, politicians and writers,
bring forth illogical and again extremist religious fervor on the part of
a segment of the Indian Society and State. We at the Financial Post do not
have a policy to comment and condemn writings and articles of other publications
but this is not merely condemnation for the sake of hitting back. It is for
the sake of upholding the integrity of the country I was born to, for the
duty of standing upto the nation which was created for reasons we might differ
with, but it is a land we are proud to call our own. We feel the Sari's from
our neighbors we might admire, some of their movies we might appreciate, the
streets of Lahore and Karachi might not be paved with gold, their economy
must surely be booming, their TV dramas and Bollywood movies are being watched.
But we are surely thankful that in 1947 our grandparents and parents decided
to leave all the "goodies" behind in a state called India to move
to a homeland called Pakistan.
The train tragedy of the Samjhota Express makes our eyes weep and hearts bleed,
it makes us condemn and mourn the death of each passenger, irrespective of
his and her nationality and religion. Irrespective of whether it was a Muslim
or a Hindu that perished, irrespective of whether their bodies were buried
or cremated, irrespective of whether they belonged to Pakistan or India.