“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:esempee2...@yahoo.com
