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Unrest over US-line
By Syed Ubaidur Rahman
 The
terrorist strikes in New York city and Washington have generated great
sympathy for the victims and the USA in the country. Around six thousand
people are estimated to have perished in the deadly strikes on the twin
towers of World Trade Centre in New York and Pentagon in Washington DC on
11 September.
But everyone is not supporting the over-enthusiastic reaction of the
Indian government over the question of offering assistance to the United
States if it decides to launch a military strike against Afghanistan where
the alleged mastermind of the attack, Osama Bin Laden, is living.
The unconditional support extended by the government of India for the
planned attack on Afghanistan has come in for sharp criticism from all
corners. The home minister LK Advani and the external affairs minister
Jaswant Singh have extended unconditional support to the US and have
announced to provide logistic support to the US troops if it attacks
Afghanistan. Indian intelligence agencies have reportedly provided
important clues on Afghanistan and terrorist camps in Afghanistan and
Pakistan as well as in the Pak-occupied Kashmir (POK).
Voices of dissent on extending unconditional support to the US for
attacking Afghanistan are not coming from Muslim organizations and
communist parties alone, even several NDA allies as well as various
cabinet ministers of the BJP-led government have expressed their
reservations about the issue. Several key ministers at the centre have
said that India should not be seen as kowtowing the US. Senior NDA leaders
are dissatisfied at what they see as Jaswant Singh’s jumping the gun by
offering help even before it became clear what the US was offering India
in return.
Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, a senior BJP leader, told this correspondent that
though we should fight terrorism but we should not blindly follow US
wishes. He said that though we have also been facing the menace of
terrorism the US never came to our rescue.
Sitaram Yechuri of the CPIM said that the way India is blindly following
the US dictates on its proposed Afghanistan invasion is humiliating. He
says that our response to the impending US terror strikes has been full of
wickedness. He told this correspondent that even when the US had not
expressed any desire or need for India’s help, Vajpayee government went
about making announcements to offer complete military and logistic support
to the US military operation in the region. He said that it shows
immaturity and lack of understanding in the BJP leadership.
Syed Ahmad Bukhari, the Imam of Jama Masjid, Delhi told MG that though he
feels very sympathetic towards the victims of the 11 September terrorist
strikes, he is totally opposed to the invasion of Afghanistan as planned
by the US. Maulana Bukhari said that the planned attack on Afghanistan is
totally uncalled for as neither the role of Osama nor that of Taliban has
been established in the strikes. He added that he had talked to Prime
Minister AB Vajpayee and conveyed to him the feelings of the Indian
Muslims on the issue. He said that he told the prime minister that India
should not be made a base for US strikes against Afghanistan. He added
that the US follows double standards about atrocities carried out by
Israel against the Palestinian people. He said that the US itself will be
committing a grave terrorist act if it attacks Afghanistan to nab Bin
Laden without any proof.
Maulana Farooq Khan, a renowned Islamic scholar, told MG that it will be
repeating the same mistake if the US decides to launch strikes against
Afghanistan. He said that the US should not be carried by anger and
frustration arising out of the terrorist strikes. He said that it should
look for substantive proofs against the culprits and then only should act.
On the question of support to the US on strikes against Afghanistan,
Maulana Farooq Khan said that our government has over-reacted on an issue
that hardly concerns us. He said that the terrorist strikes in the US have
nothing to do with India.
A senior SIMI official told this correspondent that he feels aggrieved
over the loss of lives of so many people in the US in the terrorist
strikes, but it is the first time when the US is reaping fruits of its own
deeds. He said that it is the US that has been giving life support to the
oppressive Zionist regime of Israel which occupies Palestine territory and
kills and terrorizes the whole Palestinian population. He said that he is
totally opposed to any Indian support to the US invasion of Afghanistan.
He added that the US anger against Afghanistan is incomprehensible as
Afghanistan is not involved in the terrorist strike.
Maulana Sirajul Hasan, Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, has expressed his
sorrow over the loss of life and destruction following the terrorist
strikes in the US. He said that every form of terrorism should be
condemned. He added that the incidents should be probed before taking any
punitive measure against any one.
Meanwhile the government of India seems to be distancing itself from its
earlier stand when it offered every assistance to the US. Changing its
stand on supporting the military action in Afghanistan the government has
asked the US and other countries to tackle terrorism at its roots rather
than focus on Osama Bin Laden alone. q |
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