Muslims -- India 's new 'untouchables'
al92653
The condition of the country's Muslims has deteriorated, and the world has
overlooked the nation's problems.
By Asra Q. Nomani
December 1, 2008
The news of the attacks in Mumbai eerily took me back to a quiet morning two
years ago when I sat in Room 721 of the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower hotel,
reading the morning newspaper, fearing just the kind of violence that has
now exploded in the city of my birth. The headlines recounted how the
socioeconomic condition of the people of my ancestry, Muslims in India , had
fallen below that of the Hindu caste traditionally called "untouchables,"
according to a government report.
"Muslims are India 's new untouchables," I said sadly to my mother, in the
room with me. " India is going to explode if it doesn't take care of them."
Now, indeed, alas it has. And shattered in the process is the myth of India
's thriving secular democracy.
Mumbai police said over the weekend that the only gunman they'd captured
during the attacks -- which left nearly 200 dead and more than 300
wounded -- claimed to belong to a Pakistani militant group. But even if the
trouble was imported, the violence will most certainly turn a spotlight of
suspicion on Muslims in India . Already, my relatives are hunkered down for
a sectarian backlash they expect from anti-terrorism agencies, police and
angry Hindu fundamentalists.
India , long championed as a model of pluralism, used to be an example of
how Muslims can coexist and thrive even as a minority population. My
extended family prospered as part of an educated, middle class. My parents,
who settled in the United States in the 1960s when my father pursued a
doctorate at Rutgers University , were part of India 's successful diaspora.
I love India , and on that trip, I wanted to show it off to my son, Shibli,
then age 4.
But on that visit, across India from Mumbai to the southern state of Tamil
Nadu and north to Lucknow , the hub of Muslim culture, I was deeply
saddened. Talking to vegetable vendors, artisans and businessmen, I heard
about how the condition of Muslims had deteriorated. They had become largely
disenfranchised, poor, jobless and uneducated. Their tales echoed those I'd
heard on previous trips, when my extended family recounted their humiliating
experiences with bureaucratic, housing, job and educational discrimination.
Indeed, the government report I read about in the newspapers two years ago
acknowledged that Muslims in India had become "backward." "Fearing for their
security," the report said, "Muslims are increasingly resorting to living in
ghettos around the country." Branding of Muslims as anti-national,
terrorists and agents of Pakistan "has a depressing effect on their psyche,"
the report said, noting Muslims live in "a sense of despair and suspicion."
According to the report, produced by a committee led by a former Indian
chief justice, Rajender Sachar, Muslims were now worse off than the Dalit
caste, or those called untouchables. Some 52% of Muslim men were unemployed,
compared with 47% of Dalit men. Among Muslim women, 91% were unemployed,
compared with 77% of Dalit women. Almost half of Muslims over the age of 46
couldn't read or write. While making up 11% of the population, Muslims
accounted for 40% of India 's prison population. Meanwhile, they held less
than 5% of government jobs.
The Sachar committee report recommended creating a commission to remedy the
systemic discrimination and promote affirmative-action programs. So far,
very few of the recommendations have been put in place.
Since reading the report, I have feared that Islamic militancy would be born
out of such despair. Even if last week's terrorist plot was hatched outside
India , a cycle of sectarian violence could break out in the country and
push some disenfranchised Muslim youth to join militant groups using
hot-button issues like Israel and Kashmir as inspiration.
What has irked me these last years is how the world has glossed over India
's problems. In 2006, for instance, former U.S. Defense Secretary William
Cohen, whose Cohen Group invests heavily in India , said the U.S. and India
were "perfect partners" because of their "multiethnic and secular
democracies." When I asked to interview Cohen about the socioeconomic
condition of Muslims, his public relations staffer said that conversation
was too "in the weeds." But, to me, the condition of Muslims needs frank and
open discussion if there is to be any hope of stemming Islamic radicalism
and realizing true secular democracy in the country.
India 's 150 million Muslims represent the second-largest Muslim population
in the world, smaller only than Indonesia 's 190 million Muslims. That is
just bigger than Pakistan 's 140 million Muslims or the entire population of
Arab Muslims, which numbers about 140 million. U.S. intelligence reports
continually warn that economic, social and political discontent are
catalysts for radicalism, so we would be naive to continue to ignore this
potential threat to the national security of not just India but the United
States.
Throughout my 2006 journey, I found the idea of India 's potential for
danger unavoidable. On one leg, my son tucked safely in bed with my mother
in our Taj hotel room, I went out to watch the filming of "A Mighty Heart,"
the movie about the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl by
Muslim militants in Pakistan . When the location scouts needed to replicate
the treacherous streets of Karachi 's militant Islamist culture, they didn't
have to go far. They found the perfect spot in a poor Muslim neighborhood of
Mumbai.
Asra Q. Nomani is the author of "Standing Alone: An American Woman's
Struggle for the Soul of Islam."
CaveMan
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"al92653" <al9...@xyz.com> wrote in message
news:SJhZk.3981$Re2....@newsfe14.iad...
>
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India owes it's muslim population absolutely nothing. If the muslims do not
like the way their lives are going in India, they should do something to
improve them, isntead of following 1400 year old bullshit found in the
Koran. Following the Quaran will only lead to poverty and despair, and
finally anhilation.
Individuals are responsible for their lives, not the government. Why do
most impoverished people have 10 children and $200 a year in income? They
are stupid. They are irresponsible. And if they are liberal, it is "our"
fault, not their fault. If they are not liberal, they will at least admit
it is their own fault.
One truth, Liberals Suck, and this will never change, regardless of how many
lib scum get elected.
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joshb
> Muslims -- India 's new 'untouchables'
>
> The condition of the country's Muslims has deteriorated, and the world has
> overlooked the nation's problems.
Well guess what, I have thought a bit about the problems in general,
and come up with a solution: http://www.jhwh.be
One of my conclusions is that nations must not be too large, I'd say
100 million people is the upper limit and really too large already.
My system comes with a new Constitution. If you get it done, the
Muslems will have several sovereign countries for themselves, anywhere
between 2 or even 15. The Hindu people and the other can do the same,
the "untouchables" can also do the same.
The system is based on rational economics, not the modern system but
with democratic / socially directed business investment (an absolute
must for any economy because investment money is more profitable where
"workers" get exploited). It also has a system of land distribution.
If people have land, especially in India, that could mean a lot for
them; if the economy consists of buninisses reared up by social
investment, these companies will probably treat people better.
The system also has an extreme form of absolute democracy designed
to bring out the will of real people, and reduce the danger of mass
media manipulation and puppet governments that front for powerful classes.
If living standards improve, in a few generations the birth-rate could
drop hopefully, which seems to be what happens if survival chances
increase and things generally improve (a lot). The system also has
laws that should make armed conflicts less likely.
These things are probably not in the perceived interest of a ruling
classes in the Indian empire. I don't know a lot about India though,
and maybe they would actually be interested in implementing it for
the benefit of everyone.
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