Falsehoods about terrorism

I was fascinated by my dear friend Adnan’s post – Falsehoods about terrorism: ‘Islamic’ and ‘un-Islamic’ terrorists [Indian Muslims and Media] - that was a breath of fresh air. In a non-ideological, dispassionate manner he critiques the media power and association of the word Muslim with terrorism. I have known Adnan since I started blogging. Even though I have never met him in real life, I know that we could have been great actual (as opposed to virtual) friends had the walls of borders, distrust and competing nationalisms not stood between us. But cyberspace has allowed us to be friends and this is remarkable by itself. Perhaps the tone of his post has to do with the essential good manners that come with the Ganga-Jamni tehzeeb (high Indo-Muslim culture) of which Adnan is a torchbearer. He is equally into politics, activism as much as he is steeped in the culture of internalising Urdu poetry and its refined nuances. See his blogs with the finest selections from Urdu poets.

Back to Adnan’s excellent post. I am reproducing an excerpt here:

Believe me, had any of these attacks involved a Muslim, it would have been termed a Terrorist attack and for days, we would have been shown images of ‘trained Muslim youths’, their links, cell phone records, the masterminds, the names of obscure organisations with Arabic names and what not.

“…I would request you to just have a look at the frequency of attacks mentioned below:

1. 11 CISF personnel gunned down in Naxal attack on NALCO bauxite mine in Orissa (April 13) [Link courtesy The Hindu]
2. Landmine blast kills 7 including five para-military force personnel and two passengers in Jharkhand, 12 others killed by Maoists in Bihar, Orissa and Maharashtra (April 16)
3. 1 killed, 18 injured as Barak Valley Express targeted by Jewel Garlosa militant group in Assam (April 9) [Link courtesy BBC]
4. Two killed, dozen injured in attack on goods train in Assam (April 10) [Link]
5. ULFA targets Kamrup Express, two blasts on railway track (April 13)
6. CRPF DG’s chopper fired by suspected Maoists
7. Dima Halam Daoga group kills 7 including 6 policemen [Link]
8. Naxalites hijack train, hold 300 passengers hostage (April 22)
9. Convoy of 25 vehicles of Bodo leaders attacked by NDFBmilitants in Kokarajhar, three killed

Read the newspapers reports and you will find that the word terrorism was never used. Even the word militants was not used. Just like LTTE remains Tigers or Tamil rebels, the Naxals were called Maoists or left-wing extremists and the Assam groups termed as ULFA separatists or outlawed factions.”

Full post here

All My Posts, India, Islam, Islamophobia, terrorism Indian, Islamic, Jihad, militancy, Muslims, political, terrorism, unIslamic