The story of unsung Malalas

“Everyone is worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there really is an easy way – Stop participating in it” – Noam Chomsky

It has been more than a week since Malala Yousafzai, a 14 year old Pakistani school girl was shot in the head by gunmen while coming back from school and is now under treatment in UK. While mincing no words, this really is a dastardly act and any sane person with reasoning capabilities would agree. It is no surprise then that this cowardly act has seen condemnations pouring in from all around the world – from the US administration and from other countries and even from unexpected quarters like the ageing singer Madonna!  While as the attackers have, reportedly, rejected her going to school as the reason behind the assassination attempt insisting, rather, that she was attacked for being an America sympathizer and an Obama patroniser, I guess this act cannot be justified in anyway. However, the fact that needs to be analysed in this context is the skewed approach and the continual selectivity in the way world powers condemn acts of such magnitude or even more, depending upon who is the perpetrator and who is the victim.

I consider Malala lucky on two counts – One that she survived the assassination attempt and Second that she has the whole country (or the world) behind her, thanks to the widespread media coverage this attack received. This is not to say that media should not have given such coverage but the emphasis I want to lay is upon the fact that there are still many civilians (including girls, including children) around the world who die a silent death at the hands of the ‘unofficial’ terrorists. The following lines highlight some of these.

While Malala has been offered medical care by many countries, no one even tried to speak about the glaring acts of human rights violations perpetrated in the past, by the same people who are now offering medical aid to Malala. There was no media coverage, no lectures of democracy and freedom from the pulpits of the White House because the perpetrators on those occasions were on the other side of the line – the line demarcating separate nomenclatures for same acts performed by different people.

A few months earlier this year, in March, 17 unarmed civilians (including 7 girls and a 9 year old) were murdered by an American solider in the Panjwai district of Kandahar in Afghanistan. Even the dead bodies were not spared and were burnt.  This time around the US President did admit that the incident was “absolutely tragic” but was quick to add, “but generally we are proud of what the troops have accomplished in Afghanistan”. One wonders what is this accomplishment the US president was referring to – a war ravaged country, a lost war or a whirlpool of human rights abuses? In the Iraqi town of Haditha, in November 2005, 24 unarmed civilians were gunned down by the US marines which included seven children and a toddler. The perpetrators of this act were initially booked but are yet to be convicted, after the passage of 7 years! These acts form just the tip of the iceberg of the sponsored terrorism meted out in the name of war against terror. 

What about Abeer al-Janabi, a 14 year old Iraqi girl,  who was killed along with her family members by five US marines after being sexually assaulted? The dead bodies of those killed were then burnt in order to put the blame on sectarian violence. In this case as well, the guilty are yet to face justice and the people pretending to be the harbingers of democracy, freedom & equal rights seem to be busy in condemning acts by others while patronising much more widespread and heinous acts of terrorism and injustice done by their own men. On a similar count, what about the thousands of children in various cities of Iraq who are born with defects caused due to excessive exposure to radiations as a result of the US sponsored invasion? What about the staggering number of civilian deaths arising due to the continuing drone strikes in Pakistan, Yemen & Somalia?

According to independent sources the number of civilian killings in the drone attacks in Pakistan alone is nearly 3000 which includes nearly 200 children. How many teenaged school kids were lost here without a trace? Without even the smallest mention by the big media houses which these days have dedicated prime time programs for Malala?  Tariq Aziz, a 16 year old school boy was killed along with his cousin, 12 year old Waheed Khan when a American drone hit the vehicle they were travelling in, in 2009. Tariq Aziz had only the previous Friday attended the anti-Drone conference in Islamabad. He was planning to use photography to document the drone attacks in his area. He had volunteered to help upload the pictures and was killed within 72 hours after returning home.  

Similarly, in Yemen and Somalia, the number of civilian deaths as a result of drone attacks far exceeds the number of ‘terrorists’ killed. Although, the definition of ‘terrorist’ in itself is an altogether ambiguous issue! Reports suggest that the ‘success’ rate of the drone attacks in eliminating ‘terrorists’ stands at a dismal 10-15 %. As a friend aptly put it on twitter, “The attack on Malala is a national tragedy, but drone attacks are a national strategy”!

One can only wonder how the perpetrators of worst kind of institutionalised terrorism claim the moral ground to condemn acts like the attack on Malala? It is pertinent to mention here that the TTP, deemed responsible for the attack on Malala, became a dreaded force only after the US drones began to strike at will in Pakistan, killing innocent civilians in the garb of the ‘War against terror’. And then they have the audacity to blame the growth of TTP on the so called ‘radical Islam’ when, in reality, the roots of almost every terrorist act lie in their own hegemonic policies. 

This write up first appeared in the Thursday, 25th October edition of the Daily Greater Kashmir.

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As we protest...

“Muslims don’t deserve respect”. This is one of the huge numbers of responses on internet forums that have popped up after our response to the piece of garbage produced by some mindless person and directed by some senseless person. While all of us acknowledge that this is an attempt by the Zionists to demonize the Muslims and spread malice about the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) but many of us seem to support the violence which is being preperated in the name of the Prophet (peace be upon him) ‘in response’ to the video. Can we muster courage to ask ourselves the question, “Are we responding in accordance to what the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) did when some abused him?” If the answer is No, and certainly is, we need to introspect and mend our actions so that the disservice which our actions have so far lend to our Prophet’s (peace be upon him) mission may be annulled to some extent.

          Once during the lifetime of the Prophet (peace be upon him), a funeral of a Jew passed by the Prophet (peace be upon him), His eyes became moist and became somewhat sad. Upon being enquired about the reason for being sad, He replied , “Was he not a human”? The Prophet (peace be upon him) had so much sympathy for the non-believers as he was the ‘Mercy for all the worlds’. In the same pretext, can we justify the killing of Chris Stevens, US ambassador to Libya, and the inhumane way in which he was killed in the name of protecting the honour of our Prophet (peace be upon him)? By choosing the violent and outrageous way of protesting, we are only falling into the machinations of the behind-the-screen perpetrators of such blasphemous acts. And in the process, we also lose the support of the ‘like minded’ non-Muslims who would otherwise support us in condemning the blasphemous act.

          In the lifetime of Prophet (peace be upon him) there were those who cursed and insulted him openly.  Ka’b bin al-Ashraf, a Jew, in Madina, used to recite defamatory poetry about him and made explicit poetry about the women of the Muslims. This was when the Prophet (peace be upon him) was the ruler, and Ka’b bin al-Ashraf was living under his authority in Madina.  But the Prophet (peace be upon him) didn’t ask his Companions to punish his neighbors, companions, or even his family members for what Ka’b bin al-Ashraf did.  Nor did he punish the representatives of his tribe, Banu an-Nadeer, or randomly target the Jews of Madina nor did he boycott their businesses.   Instead Prophet (peace be upon him), as the ruler, dealt with Ka’b bin al-Ashraf, the one who caused that harm specifically.

          Given our recent history of responding to such acts of sacrilege and blasphemy, it is as easy as tempting a little kid for chocolate to instigate violent protests from us. Keeping this in mind, those hell-bent upon destroying world peace and shifting power balances find this an easy way to disrupt order and sink the Muslim world into the abyss of chaos and confusion. And guess what, it is only the Muslim countries which are affected the worst kind of violence, arson, murder & destruction in the name of religion than any other country of the world.

          It is worthwhile to mention here that the ‘Arab Spring’ had somewhat destroyed the old stereotypes of Muslims dictatorships by bringing forth just rulers in countries like Tunisia & Egypt which were erstwhile ruled by corrupt dictators. Now that the new rulers in these countries were bringing to fore somewhat positive (i.e. real) facets of Islam, people came up with this movie. Now, it is not surprising to see that the same western philosophers who coined the term ‘Arab Spring’ to signify a positive change are terming the recent wave of protests as the ‘beginning of the Arab Winter’. And we are cordially (albeit unintentionally) acting as pawns in the great game of the people bent to malign the great religion – Islam.

         What we are watching now is; Muslims (protestors) fighting Muslims (policemen) in Muslim regions (Pakistan, Libya, Egypt, Kashmir); the net result being loss of Muslim lives, property and above all dignity. On Friday, which is meant to be a special day to beseech Allah to send blessings upon the Prophet (peace be upon him), more than 20 people were killed in Pakistan. This in addition to the scores others killed erstwhile.  It is not that our religious heads are silent on this matter and we can blame them for all the chaos and confusion prevailing for not reaching out to the masses. They are literally ‘shouting’ but here we are, deafened by hollow slogans, unable to hear them. It is good to see Muslims, Scholars as well as common people, working their hearts out on social networks, blogs, youtube, websites asking people to adhere to the Noble ways of Prophet (peace be upon him) while ‘protesting’ against such acts of sacrilege. Messages like this are common from the Learned Scholars, “If anyone abuses the Prophets (peace be upon them), then that does not mean the Prophets are harmed due to it; rather the person (who abuses them) is harmed and he will receive the evil repercussions.” Furthermore, “Our religion is a religion of peace; our religion is a religion of goodness. Our religion prohibits assaulting others. Our religion prohibits abusing others. Our religion gives the due right to its people (whether) Muslim or non-Muslim. And that which we hold to be from our Religion is that these chaotic actions that are carried out by some of the youth do not represent the religion of Islam or the Muslim population.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) himself stressed upon the importance of learned Scholars and termed them as the “Inheritors of the Prophets, the inheritance being Knowledge (‘Ilm)”. The need of the hour is to implement the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) teachings in every sphere of our lives and even in the way we protest!

The above write up also appeared in the Sunday, 7th October edition of Rising Kashmir.

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Vice President……much ado about much less

For over a month now, the tussle over the presidential election is going on. Long-time friends have turned foes & allies are pitted against each other. Despite the fact that most of the parties claim that they want the election to be consensus based and above political ‘tauntocracy’, each one of them is trying their fullest to gain political mileage from these elections. This has even led to loyalty differences within a party. An example of this is the candidature of P A Sangma who quit his party Nationalist Congress Party which is an all-weather ally of the Indian National Congress. He has now become a strong contender against his good old friend Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA nominee. On the other hand, parties like JD – (U), DMK and Trinamool Congress are waiting for the tide to turn in a particular direction to jump into the winning bandwagon.

The two major alliances, UPA and NDA, competing to be in power in the Centre are using this election as the preparing ground for the 2014 parliamentary elections. In this case the nomination of candidates assumes more importance as it can become either a precursor for the forging of new alliances. On the other hand, the nomination of a particular candidate can prove to be the alliance breaker. The best example of this is the opposition of the UPA candidate, Pranab Mukherjee, by the all-important partner in UPA – the Trinamool Congress. The presidential election may, well, be termed as indicator of the mood of the various parties before the 2014 parliamentary elections.

In the midst of all this, the election to the post of Vice President has also gained momentum with various contenders springing up for this post. The Vice President’s election which would earlier be done by consensus has now gained ground as a battle of Prestige and Honour for the different parties with each party trying to present such candidates which would prove their ‘inclusive’ and ‘secular’ image. The ruling coalition is most likely to nominate someone from the, supposedly, unrepresented sections of the population. But what remains to be seen is what really would the Vice President from the ‘unrepresented’ section of the population do good to them. The examples of previous Vice Presidents stare in anguish at those who claim to do good to these sections by electing a President or a Vice President from them. Mohammad Hamid Ansari (the incumbent), Prof. Saifuddin Soz, Dr. Farooq Abdullah & J M Lyngdoh (former Chief Election Commissioner) are some of the names doing rounds.

Talking about the Kashmiri Muslim perspective to this election, even if India does get to have a Kashmiri Muslim Vice President, I don’t think it would be of any immense good to the people of this state in particular although it may help the Centre to project a ‘secular’ and ‘inclusive’ image of itself in the international community. The post of the President in a parliamentary democracy like India is largely a ceremonial one and no concrete decision making power lies in the hands of the president, except for approving (formally) what has already been approved by the two houses of the Parliament. While observing the political hopscotch, one can clearly see the handicap of the president in taking any concrete decision on his own. Talk of the Vice President; he is way behind the President in this respect except that he can adjourn the Rajya Sabha in his own capacity for a particular time if he deems it fit. Even the Rajya Sabha is most of the times presided over by the Deputy Chairman (in absence of the Vice President). In my opinion, it would be better to have a powerful and important portfolio in the Central cabinet for a Local Politician than a post, the incumbent of which is meant for Ceremonial Foreign tours, Ceremonial receptions of foreign heads & laying of floral wreaths at Raj Gath or other Samadhis!