Making A Difference

Memories Of Another Day

Pakistani society's reaction: shock, disbelief and finally, relief

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Memories Of Another Day
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The legacy of Partition, indeed, lives on. Most Pakistanis identify last week’s carnage with the BJP and feel it is the unfinished agenda of this party to sideline Muslims. What’s shocking for them is the planned manner in which the rioters targeted Gujarat’s Muslims. As Khan points out, "We were really horrified when we read in the Indian media that the Hindus used the electoral rolls to identify the Muslims before they were attacked. You can’t get more scientific than that, can you?"

Others like Institute of Strategic Studies director-general Shirin Mazari, who hosted several shows on PTV on Gujarat, identify the economic factor underpinning the targeting of Muslims. She explains, "There is always an economic backlash during communal riots in India. We again saw how the properties and businesses of Muslims were torched. The message is obvious: if Muslims have to rise in India, they have to deny their religious identity."

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Karachi was one place where residents experienced the communal conflagration more deeply. For one, there are many here who have relatives in India, particularly in Gujarat. Denial of Muslims’ role in the Godhra incident is paramount. As Nasir Naveed, who owns a paan shop in the city, says, "I refuse to believe Muslims initiated the torching of the train. Any Muslim would know the consequences. I am sure the Hindus planned Godhra and enticed the Muslims into the tragic train blaze."

But Dr Moonis Ahmar, a Karachi-based political analyst, says Indians Muslims too need to introspect. He explains, "As long as Indian Muslims remain backward and refuse to join the mainstream world, they won’t be able to cope with the challenges of the 21st century. If Indian Muslims, or some among them, continue to deny that their identity and commitment is first to their country, they’ll continue to face the onslaught from the majority community."

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Ahmar’s is the minority view here. Most intellectuals think India needs to dispassionately analyse the causes of religious intolerance and growing fanaticism or else risk getting sucked into a circle of mayhem and carnage. And central to this scrutiny has to be the BJP’s role in the Babri Masjid controversy. As The News wrote, "An analysis of the Babri Mosque controversy, especially after the recent Hindu-Muslim violence in Gujarat, makes it quite clear that the Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Vajpayee wants to capitalise on it. Losing its hold considerably among the Indian masses as evidenced by its poor show in recent elections in four states, the BJP is keen on raking up a matter that had been kept aside for legal wrangling."

Not surprising, then, to find anxious intellectuals sighing in relief at the Supreme Court’s decision to disallow the puja.

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