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Terrorism

Facts versus Myths

Ram Puniyani*

Introduction

The current times are full of insane acts of terror. All over the globe and also in India actsof violence by political groups seeking justice or revenge are dime a dozen. Not a monthpasses when one does not hear about the death of innocents in one more such act in oneor the other corner of the globe. Many a times one can make the correlations, which tellus the cause of terror, the underlying group involved. The recent Mumbai blasts, 11thJuly 2006 took place in the first class compartment of the Western railways. Prior to thisthe blasts in Mumbai took place in 2002, immediately in the aftermath of Gujaratviolence, and the earlier one’s taking place in 1993 were in the aftermath of Mumbaicarnage. On 8th August 2006, two blasts took place outside a Masjid in Malegaon,Maharashtra killing over 40 people.

The attack on Afghanistan and than on Iraq later was followed by acts of terror in Spain,Madrid and in London. All these countries incidentally were the one’s who had beenallies of US in its invasion of Iraq. In India various such acts have been sometimes beenrelated to Kashmir issue, sometimes with the overall attacks and intimidation ofminorities. On 11th July when Mumbai was rocked by the blasts, the same day saw theblasts in Kashmir and the next day one heard of blasts in Sri Lanka, forcing South Africato withdraw from the trilateral series. One keeps hearing of the acts of violence in NorthEast on regular basis where the ethnic issues have not yet been resolved. Irish RepublicanArmy just a couple of months ago went on to declare that it will no longer indulge in actsof terror.

It’s not that these are only terrorist groups which are wreaking havoc. There are severalStates that are adding up to the problem by getting some such acts stage-managed todefame the terror outfits. Many a suspicions have been raised about, Chittsingpuramassacres of Sikhs during Clintons visit to India, about the Ansal Plaza act, about theattack on parliament and even about UK claim that they have unearthed the link plannedexplosions in the flights taking off to US.

The picture could not have been worse at any point of time. The impact of this has beenall around on the lives of people affecting their social life to a great extent. TheWorldwide security has been tightened on airports. Huge forces have been deployed atairports to check and cross check the people traveling. People have become used to beingfrisked, searched during the travels. Muslims have bore the biggest brunt of thesesearches. Just being Muslim is enough of cause for someone to be thoroughly probed andsearched. In the wake of Mumbai blasts wholesale arrest of Muslim youths has been thenorm with the police. The ground is that they must be harboring terrorists, they must behaving sympathies with the terrorists since they are Muslims. The social life is getting

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affected in an adverse manner. The liberal values are coming under the chopping block ofsecurity. The orthodoxy and right wing religio-political streams are coming to the fore invery aggressive and assertive manner. To cap it all some messages have been filtereddown the social conduits, the one’s related Muslims and Islam, as propagating that theyare the fountainhead of violence and terror. Along with this the sense of insecurityamongst average people is going up and some political elements are harping on this toincrease their political clout. The atmosphere is full of suspicion. To worsen the mattersthere is a section of global and local media playing on this sentiment to widen the dividebetween different religious communities. There are sectarian groups, wearing differentgarbs, who are having a field day, in reaping the harvest of hate.

There are different spots in the world which are more prone and have come to thelimelight due to the acts of terror. West Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon seem to bethe high voltage area, with death stalking the streets and the gods of death having picnicon regular basis. The source of information on these issues is also very vague. Theinformation coming from the state machineries is the major one. Such acts cannot beratified by independent civic sources. International citizens initiatives cannot go to theextent of investigating it for different reasons and citizens tribunals, which haveinvestigated on the war crimes against Iraq and Afghanistan are practically unheard ofwhile the US propaganda machine rolls out its dossiers in full strength on regular basis.In India a large section of media follows the lead of Western media and also a largesection is influenced by the communal propaganda of RSS combine. The odd bravejournalists and human rights activists, who do try to give the alternate vision andinterpretation of what seems to be the obvious, do it at great risk. Also there are fewretired personnel who have been giving out the sources which give us a peep into thehappening in the highest echelons. There is no dearth of books on the topic but few arethe one’s which do not toe the line of big Sam or the authorities at places.

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Defining terrorism is not very simple, various interpretations and definitions havecome up. The states have focused on talking of terrorist acts, violence; death of innocentsin this process. As such in popular parlance, in some regions, in some circles these acts ofterror are legitimized as an act of political campaign. LTTE, ULFA, IRA, Kashmirimilitants, who are labeled as terrorists are looked up as freedom fighters amongst asection. The case of Sardar Bhagat Singh is equally interesting. While he was dubbed as aterrorist by British, he is looked up as one of the greatest revolutionaries, as a freedomfighter. As such it can be understood “as an act of violence against unarmed civilians as ameans of bargaining politically over specific demands or making a general statement.”(Hensman, Terrorism, Imperialism and War, p. 29) Further Hensman adds very aptly, “Itshould be irrelevant whether the perpetrators are state parties or non state parties, andother characteristics (like skin color, ethnicity, gender, religion, nationality, sexualorientation, disability, social origin or anything else) of the perpetrators or the victims

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should likewise be irrelevant. (Terrorism, Imperialism and War p156) While such groupshave wreaked havoc, even the elected governments have also resorted to this violence.“Statist definitions (of terrorism) portray terrorism to cover sedition, conspiracy, killing,murder, arson, explosions and public disorder to undermine the state…, twist due processof and evidentiary norms against the individual and prescribe heavypunishment…political terrorism abjures the state’s definition and seeks to defineterrorism as political freedom struggle to support the claims of justice and selfdetermination with no holds barred.”(Dhavan, Times of India, August 23) Accordinglystate governments formulate harsh laws and try to go overboard in their response to theextent of punishing the innocents in the process and so the “War on Terror”, POTA,armed forces acts. Dhavan further adds, “A people’s definition of terrorism draws fromthe experience of civilian populations. Post World War II, terrorism against the peopleacquired a new dimension when America bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 andlater carpet bombed Vietnam with Napalm”. The experience of Afghanistan and Iraq isno different, neither the one of Israel’s attack on Lebanon.

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Compared to the decades of sixties to eighties the air is thick with fear and intimidation.Values of humanism are being forced to take the backseat while the powers that be arekeener to increase their powers by projecting the fear of terrorism. The global and localwar on terror is a construct, which is contradictory in itself. Terrorist outfits are not alegal entity, so how can one talk of such a war defies all logic and imagination.

Myth: All Muslims are not Terrorists, but all Terrorists are Muslims.

Fact: This is widely circulating in via SMS and also by word of mouth. Since the 11th

Sept 2001 WTC attack, this started being popularized and by now it has become part ofsocial common sense. In India, the Kashmir militancy indulged in by a section of youth isagain cited as example of Muslim terrorists. To add to this the incidents of Akshardhamtemple, Ansal plaza, high jacking of Indian Airlines plane to Kandhar, attack onparliament are blown up as, in all these either Muslims were involved or in some cases itwas projected that they were. Some of these reports had serious holes in the storypresented by the authorities, but since there can be no ratification by citizens committeesit is difficult to doubt or believe in some of these. All said and done, there is enoughnumber of cases where Muslims are involved and organizations like Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Tayyba, Hamas have become household names. But interestingly there are many otherorganizations using violence which are not much taken note of.

One of the major such organizations is Liberation Tiger of Tamil Elam (LTTE), themajority of the members of this are Hindus. One member of this group, Dhanu strapped abomb and killed Rajiv Gandhi. Similarly Khalistani movement was the major forceresorting to terror just few years ago. Those belonging to Christian and Hindu militantsare active in North East India. Worldwide, the Irish Republican Army militants belong toChristianity, the one who bombed a Hotel in Cairo in 1942 was a Jew, and the Oklahomabomber was a Christian, Timothy McWeigh. Wherever dissatisfaction goes beyond a

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particular level some of the people do resort to violence to achieve their supposed goal. Itis not related to any one religion in particular. National Democratic Front: Bodoland, AllTripura Tiger Force, Japanese Red Army, Lords Salvation Army, ETA, Spain are somemore examples of organizations which are scattered in different parts of world, usingterror tactics for their political goals and have nothing to do with Islam.

During last decade and a half Islam has been projected to be violent. The media andmany a state apparatus have on purpose ‘sold’ this image of Islam. Muslims are nouniform community. The basic assumption which comes from this formulation is thatreligion is the cause of terrorism. On the contrary, terrorism is a phenomenon, whichcomes into being due to social political and economic circumstances. Religion is used asa cover for the terrorist activities. The identity of terrorists is not always derived from andis not always around religion. While Khalistanis derived their identity from Sikhism. Thealleged Muslim terrorists had multiple identities; the ones in Palestine, from whereterrorism began had Palestinian identity, in Kashmir it began as Kashmiriayt. The Islamicidentity with this sort of terrorism came more particularly with AL Qaeda, which was setup by the CIA, the US through ISI of Pakistan to fight against the USSR armies inAfghanistan.--**--

Table

A War of Lies

Afghanistan 2001

A war that is supposed to feed the desperate people of Afghanistan will in fact help servethem. A war supposedly brought by Taliban in transience was actually provoked by ourown government. A war that the majority of American people believe is about their grief,anger and desire for revenge is really about cold blooded calculations of small eliteseeking external power. And a war that is supposed to make us safer by increasing thelikelihood of future terrorist attacks.

Rahul Mahajan and Robert Jensen, Outlook Oct. 15, 2001

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Myth: While terrorists coming from other religions have ethnic or other identity, thosewho are Muslims have Islamic identity.

Fact: This also changes from place to place. It is true that some of the terrorists areshowing the Islamic identity but that’s not true all through. Khalistanis also operated onSikh identity. Even with this large spectrum of Islamic identity, the ones trained by CIAwore this identity prominently on their sleeves and they tried to present as if they aredoing Jihad, they are killing the kafirs. As such they were indoctrinated in the madras asespecially set up for this purpose by CIA. These Madrasas were set up under theKissinger doctrine of ‘Asians should be made to fight Asians’ .It was formulated in the

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madrasas as that the Communists are kafirs since they don’t believe in Allah, killing themis a jihad and those dying in this jihad will straight go to jannat, where 72 virgins arewaiting for them. This concoction of US set up madrasas had strong impact on theMuslim youth who came in to get training in these with the readiness to lay down theirlives for the US goal of occupying Afghanistan in the long run.

As such what is called as Islamic identity of terrorists, only those trained in madrasas setup by CIA-ISI nexus, that Islamic identity, jehad and Kafir are used in the main. Theone’s who began from injustices heaped by Israel had Palestinian identity, the one’sKashmir had the flag of Azadi to begin with. Even here religion has been the cloak onlyfor few.

Here there is a clever manipulation of the words like Jihad and Kafir in particular. As weknow the historical meaning of these with the origin of Islam were much different. Alsothere are many an interpretation of these words. During last decade and a half Islam hasbeen projected to be violent. The media and many a state apparatus have on purpose‘sold’ this image of Islam as being associated with terrorism. Muslims are no uniformcommunity. And there are different interpretations of Islam. The media highlights anysensational violent act and ignores the pacifist ones’. Comments of fanatics are projectedprominently as the Islamic voice. The sober and moderate statements are either ignoredor find their place in some small corner of the media.

The misuse of the word Jihad by fanatics adds to the problem. Any act of Muslimterrorists is supposed to be a Jihad, as some of them project it in the same manner. Assuch Holy war, Crusade, Dharma Yuddha is not an uncommon usage in differentreligions as kings have launched their campaign for expansion of their territories in thename of their religions, times and over again, and Islam is no exception. It is believedthat Allah wants to spread Islam by the sword. Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer one of the liberalinterpreters of Islam states, “It is Jihad, which is one of the pillars of Islam preciselybecause it does not necessarily mean war. Jihad…means utmost effort, not violence and itis obligatory on Muslims to make utmost efforts (in wisely manner) to spread themessage of Allah so as to create a just and compassionate society. This is what isobligatory, not waging a war at all. Prophet himself has exemplified it on many occasionsespecially at the time of Slh-I-Hudabiya (i.e. peace of Hudaibiyah and Fath-I-Mecca).(Engineer, Institute of Islamic Studies. Oct. 98)

As for these radical Islamist groups, jihad is being used as a cynical ruse to whip upreligious fervor for their cause. “Historically, jihad was used rhetorically by theimperialist powers to justify their worldly expansionist designs. In its original sense, jihadwas more of an inner moral cleansing for the community. This was called jehad-e-Akbar(The Great Jihad). But now, the whole notion of jihad is being used as an instrument forlegitimizing militaristic, monarchic and dictatorial regimes. As for these radical Islamistgroups, jihad is being used as a cynical ruse to whip up religious fervor for theircause.”(Mushirul Hasan, Interview, Tehelka.com)

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In 1979 after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the CIA and Pakistan ISI (Inter ServiceIntelligence) launched the largest covert operation in the history of CIA. Their purposewas to harness the energy of Afghan residence to the Soviets and expand it into a holywar, an Islamic Jihad, which would turn the Muslim Countries within the Soviet zone ofinfluence, against the communist regime and to eventually destabilize it. When it began itwas meant to be Soviet Union’s Vietnam. It turned out to be much larger than that. Overthe years CIA funded and recruited 1,00,000 radical Mujahidin from 40 Islamic countriesas soldiers for American proxy war. (In Afghanistan)

(Arundhati Roy, The Algebra of Infinite Justice)

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Myth-Terrorist violence is due to Religions, especially due to Islam!

Fact-It is true that some fanatical Muslims found on the fringe, use certain medievalinterpretation and usage as eternally binding and believe that kafirs should be slayed.Also those hostile to Islam use this term to show the intolerance of Islam.

Most of the ideologies develop their positive and negative terminology. Christianity forexample has derogatory terms like pagan, non-believer, Hinduism has maleccha, yavanetc. Islam coined the negative terms like kufr (disbelief), nifaq (hypocrisy), rafz (rejectionor deviation). These terms are many a times, or rather most of the times, used against thedifferent sects in the same religion? They are a tool in the hands of vested interests fortheir material gains and for the increase of social power. Many a Muslim rulers used theword Kafir while fighting against non-Muslim kings, the same one’s then struckcompromises also with different kings. We are aware that the Muslim kings were inalliance with Hindu Kings and also had Hindu subjects in large numbers, whose religiousand other needs were considered by them (e.g. Babar’s will to Humayun) These worldlyaffairs most of the times have been given religious veneer for the benefit of the rulinggroups. Which if interpreted narrowly can attribute tolerance and intolerance to particularreligion.

Some theologians have spread the myth about ummah, a homogenous world Muslimcommunity. The truth is that there is no single goal or unified vision in the Muslim world.Different sects of Islam have serious differences with each other. Talibans are forexample condemned by a large section of Muslims. Ummah is one of the progressiveideas as enunciated in Quran. In its original form, it struck at the roots of parochialismand nationalism. It was an effort to create a Muslim personality that would not bear thelineage of race, language colour and other parochial denominations. But in reality in latercenturies this was designed as an exclusive notion.

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The concepts of Dar-ul-Islam (the land of the pure) and Dar-ul-Harb (the land of theenemy) are again used to project the lack of patriotism of Muslims in countries wherethey are in minority. In Quran, there is a distinction between "the land of the peace" and"the land of the enemy". But this distinction made sense at a time when the Muslimcommunities were trying to evolve a code vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Today in theplural diverse world we have seen different Muslim countries battling against each otherfor material gains. Also in South Asia Bangla Desh split from its co-religionist Pakistanin 1971 due to cultural and material reasons.

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Terrorism is a tactic, not a political or social force in and of itself. Anyone can use it andthe idea that you can wage a “war” against it is as dishonest as the idea behind “War onDrugs.” The use of food as a political weapon, indiscriminate aerial bombardment, andarming of gangsterish groups of religious fanatics all count as “terrorism” by anyreasonable definition of the word, and United States has long employed all of them-andmore. This war is really about sordid material interests and power, and in defense of theseinterests the US is prepared to shift the label “terrorist” as it sees fit, to apply to allmanner of dissident political movements and not just marginal bands of fanatics like binLaden’s Al Qaeda. Conversely it is willing to call its own terrorists as “freedom fighterss” (the way Al Qaeda was labeled during the decade of 90s) Maybe some of them will gettransformed into “terrorists” again in a few years. It’s a sick game and charade, thegovernment is manipulating the very real grief and anger of the people of united statesafter September 11 atrocities to get us to fall for it again”

:From a pamphlet by Anti War committee of Students of Solidarity at university ofPittsburg

--**--MSNBC Sept 23, 2006

WASHINGTON - Now the death toll is 9/11 times two.

U.S. military deaths from Iraq and Afghanistan now surpass those of the most

devastating terrorist attack in America’s history, the trigger for what came next.

The latest milestone for a country at war came Friday without commemoration. It came

without the precision of knowing who was the 2,974th to die in conflict. The terrorist

attacks killed 2,973 victims in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

An Associated Press count of the U.S. death toll in Iraq rose to 2,696. Combined with 278

U.S. deaths in and around Afghanistan, the 9/11 toll was reached, then topped, the same

day. The Pentagon reported Friday the latest death from Iraq, an as-yet unidentified

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soldier killed a day earlier after his vehicle was hit by a roadside bombing in eastern

Baghdad.

Not for the first time, war that was started to answer death has resulted in at least as

much death for the country that was first attacked, quite apart from the higher numbers

of enemy and civilians killed, too.

(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14959937/)

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Myth-The present terrorist attacks on world trade center and the consequent USaggression on Afghanistan is an indication of the truth behind the “Clash of Civilization”theses of Samuel Huntington.

Fact; “It is my hypothesis that the fundamental source of conflict in this new World willnot be primarily ideological or primarily economic. The great Divisions amonghumankind and the dominating source of conflict will be Cultural. Nation states willremain the most powerful actors in world Affairs, but the principal conflicts of globalpolitics will occur between Nations and groups of different civilizations. The clash ofcivilizations will dominate global politics. The fault lines between civilizations will bethe battle lines of the future." These gems are from Samuel Huntington the newphilosopher of this era representing the age in the World when America’s economic andpolitical domination is close to complete. It is an era where America along with itsminions is calling the shots. It is an era when the Non-Aligned movement of yesteryearshas been well forgotten and the possibility of World Democratic order seems a Utopia.The injustices done to large section of Muslims in the Gulf region and Africa have beenshowing its repercussions. The militant opposition of Palestinians to the repression byIsrael initially got expressed in P.L.O. led by Yasser Arafat. The other acts ofcommission by US and other hegemonic powers have left a sense of injustice amongst alarge section of Muslim masses. Also one is aware that the chances of Internationalgrievance settlement channels practically do not exist with UN being reduced to the deskin the state Dept. of the US and its Secretary General helplessly watching the might ofimperialist powers attacking Iraq, and soliciting UN sanctions for its terrorism. The sameman watching from the sidelines, America’s aggression on Afghanistan and the aggressorthis time not even bothering to get it ratified by the World body, the facade, which it keptso far. And this person now is being rewarded with Nobel for peace, for keeping quietwhen the US is on rampage in country after country. In this phase what is the way for thepeople of the World, which is feeling that injustice has been done it? How should theyprotest? Which doors they knock for grievance rectification?

This is aggressive terror aimed to dominate and control the World. This is the terrorismof the mighty out to enslave the weak. This state terrorism kills the innocent non-combatants, like the ones in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, like the one’s dying in the USaggression on Iraq in 1991, like the one’s dying in the streets of Kabul currently.

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The other terrorism is of the one’s who has been victims of the unjust policies of Nationsand World, those whose ethnic aspirations have been suppressed, those who have beendeprived of their home and hearth due to the greed of the World powers.

Today the ideological cover of ‘defending Freedom in the World’ is no more adequate forits expansionist goals. The resistance of the weak has to be dubbed in a more scathingmanner to justify the Terror of the Mighty, and so the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ thesis. TheIdeology of the imperialism in the times of Oil hunger, ideology of the hegemonicpowers to crush the resistance in places where they want direct and indirect control overthe resources of the World. So the ‘backward Islamic civilization’ is clashing with theModern West, say the new ideologues of imperialists. Here in the clever maneuver, forthose having oil wells, religious identity is imposed and those who aspire to satisfy theiroil hunger by buying it for peanuts, the geographical category are used. The Muslimstoday, a two billion strong, are reduced to a stereotype, clones of Osama bin-Laden ormembers of Taliban. The diversity recognition amongst the target group is dangerous forthe oppressors. So even in India we see the Muslims being projected as a uniformcommunity. It is easy for the dominant group to deal with the monolithic image ofminority. More backward the projection of the image, the better it is. It helps in all theways including during the times when violence and other suppressions have to beunleashed in pursuance with their politics.

So the Muslims in Iraq, Iran, Saudi, Indonesia, and Bangladesh all become cast in asingle mould. And now the next step becomes easy, since Muslims as a community canbe projected to be opposed to Modernity. They are terrorists so there must be somethingin Islam, which promotes violence and terrorism. And so when the pogroms areunleashed against them in the form of communal violence or aggression is launchedagainst innocent Iraqis or Afghans, consent gets easily manufactured for the aggressiveacts of the super powers. The political ratings of the one saying ‘you are either on ourside or on their’ (terrorists) soar to maddening heights and the those bequeathed withsocial common sense clap with each missile hitting the home for the old or shelter for thepeople or the hospital. Some applaud the ‘beauty ‘, the precision with which the missilesdo their job; others rejoice that ‘they’ (the Muslims) deserve this lesson. So on overt levelUncle Sam retreats back after endorsing the ‘clash of civilization’ and to appearpolitically correct, the boss reverts to ‘Infinite Justice’ as the ideological cover forbombing the hospitals and children and the old people’s homes.

White Man’s burden thesis came up with the colonization, Defending freedom came upwhile suppressing the rising Nationalisms and now the clash of civilization is being putforward when US is trying to control the taps of oil resources. There are many an Islamiccounties in and around these resources, who had to be rubbed the wrong way, in order tomaintain and extend the flow of oil towards fuel tanks of the powerful countries of theWest. Keeping in mind this projection, which exploiters have generally kept for their owninterests some ideological cover has to be maintained. If Colonial masters are usurpingthe resources of colonies, it is White man’s burden to civilize the people of the colonies,if Imperialism is crushing the Nationalist sentiments to be able to continue its hegemonyon the World; it is fight for freedom of the World. Here both these have been used as a

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cover for the proactive deeds of Imperialism. Now the ‘Clash’ theory is there to explainthe ‘reaction to the injustices’ done to the section of Arab world. One knows that most ofthe Muslim Nations are with the US in its efforts to control the Afghan territory throughthe new puppet, which will be pro-US. One also knows that the Muslim dominatedcountries like Indonesia, Malaysia and many significant one’s are with the US for its‘sacrifices to save the freedom’ in the World.

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Terrorism as a phenomenon may never go away. But if it is to be contained, the first stepis for America to knowledge that it shares the planet with other nations, with other humanbeings, who even if they are not on TV, have loves and grief and stories and songs andsorrows and for heavens sake, rights…The September 11 attacks were a monstrouscalling card from a world horribly gone wrong. The message may have been written byOsama bin Laden (who knows?) and delivered by his couriers, but it could well havebeen signed by the ghosts of victims of Americas old wars.

The millions killed in Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia, the 17500 killed when Israel-backed by US invaded Lebanon in 1982 (added, and in 2006) the 2,00,000 Iraqis killed inOperation Desert Storm, the thousands of Palestinians who have died fighting Israel’soccupation of West bank. And the millions who died in Yugoslavia, Somalia, Haiti Chile,Nicaragua, El Salvador, the Dominican republic, Panama, at the hands of all theterrorists, dictators and genocidists who the American Government supported, trained,bankrolled and supplied with arms.

(Arundhati Roy, Algebra of Infinite Justice)

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Myth: The US led ‘War on Terror’ will rid the world of the problem of Terrorism, as itaims to eliminate the causes of terrorism!

Fact: ‘War on Terror’ is a euphemism for the US aims to take political and militarycontrol of different areas of the World, either for acquisition of oil wealth or for militarygoals. The acts of terror by the groups scattered here and there are no uniform entity,which can be subject to aggression and eliminated. Since they are scattered and arefaceless, it is difficult to identify them and restrain them. In the process what happens isthat US and its allies have been picking one after the other areas and bombing them intodeserts. The civilian population, the non combatants are the biggest victim of the same.Operation Iraqi freedom was launched after the pretexts of Weapons of Mass destructionfailed miserably. UN observer recommendations were bypassed and a war was launched,which has met massive resistance from the people of Iraq? It is a war against Iraqi peopleand incidents like Abu Graib prison, where the prisoners were stripped naked and askedto made human pyramid, and butchering on the Iraqi streets has been made the norm by

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the US army. This army by now is desperate and all the attempts by US to outsource thewar and to rope in the soldiers of poorer nations has not met with any success, as the USaim of making the sacrificial goats out of the poor countries people has failed. Even theUS army is comprised mainly of the underprivileged sections of US population.

--**BoxList of Countries that America has been at war with and bombed-since World War II

China 1945-46, 1950-53 Korea (1950-53)Guatemala (1954, 1967-69) Indonesia (1958)Cuba (1959-60) The Belgian Congo(1964)Peru (1965) Laos (1964-73)Vietnam (1961-73) Cambodia (1969-70)Grenada (1983) Libya (1986)El Salvador (1980s) Nicaragua (1980s)Panama (1989) Iraq (1991-99)Bosnia (1995) Sudan (1998)Yugoslvia(1999) Afghanistan (2001)Iraq (2003) Iran (on the list)

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US as a matter of fact has been the major terrorist state in the recent times, killing heinnocent civilians to get its political and economic goals satisfied. The multinationalcorporations who are at the back of the policies have the greed of profit and the lives ofhuman beings, especially from other races, and other regions do not matter for them. Therecent events of West Asia clearly exemplify the goals of imperialism in the region. Tobegin with Saddam Hussein was lured to attack Kuwait, which was pumping out the oil atmassive speed. This would have affected the Iraqi oil reserves also. Due to the intenseeconomic pressures, Iraq planned to attack Kuwait. It informed the US administration,which subtly provoked this attack. Once Kuwait was taken over by Iraq as 24th state ofIraq, US immediate planned to attack Iraq to protect the sovereignty of Sheikh of Kuwait.Saddam; s offer of withdrawal were rejected and Bush senior went for a decisive victory,Iraq has to be bombed to pre industrial age. The retreating Iraqi armies were trapped andmassacred. Baghdad and Basra were bombed relentlessly. Thousands of civilians werekilled. 1,50, 000 Iraqis died during this invasion. Electrical Sewage treatment system andwater treatment plants were ravaged with the result that water borne dieses spread. Severeeconomic sanctions were put which further resulted in the loss of lives of Iraqis.Madeleine Albright when asked by a reporter that in the sanctions imposed by US on Iraqover half a million children have died due to that, whether it was worth it. To this shereplied in affirmative saying that ‘we think the price is worth it.’

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After 11th September 2001 WTC attack, Osama bin Laden thanked Allah for the same.He spelt his motivation on 7th Oct 2001,

“What America is tasting now is something insignificant compared to what we have tasted forscores of years. Our nation (the Islamic World) has been tasting this humiliation and degradationfor more than 80 years, its sons are killed, its blood shed, its sanctuaries are attacked and no onehears and no one heeds. Millions of children are being killed as I speak. They are being killed inIraq without committing any sins…To America; I say only a few words to it and to its people. Iswear to God, who has elevated the skies without pillars, neither America nor the people who livein it here in Palestine and not before all the infidel armies leave the land of Muhammad, peace beupon him.”

On the pretext of catching hold of culprit of 9/11, without producing any evidence againstOsama, War on terror was launched by attacking Afghanistan. In this war close to amillion lives were lost. While Osama is safe and sound thousands of innocent Afghanswere butchers. In due course US puppet Govt. has been installed there and USmultinational are swooping there to make their killing.

The lack of any credible reason for attacking Afghanistan led many an observers tocomment that, “…the war against Afghans was very much in line with the US’s historicalrole in Afghanistan. In 1970s, the US hired seven different parties of fundamentalistscalled Mujahidin. These were extremists hired by the CIA during the cold war ‘to drawthe Soviets in to Afghan trap’’ as later revealed by former National Security Advisor,Zbignew Brezinsky. The CIA gave arms and ammunition to mujahidin…Using theseweapons and sophisticated training in the art of terror, these men successfully drove outthe Soviets, but also waged terrible war on their own people killing at least 45000 peoplein Kabul alone.(Ninan Koshy, WOT, p.62-63)

As the invasion of Afghanistan began just within few weeks, the US claim that they didpreparation for this in three weeks is to be taken with a pinch of salt. “Credible reportshave appeared that the US was planning to take military action against Afghanistan tooust Taliban months before September 11.”(Koshy p.63) To train AL Qaeda US hadspent over 80000 million dollars and also provided 7000 tons of armaments, including thestringer missiles. It is for this that Kissinger doctrine of “Asians should be made to fightAsians” that the Muslims youth were indoctrinated in the Madrasas that communists whohave invaded our Afghanistan, don’t believe in Allah, so they are kafirs and waging a waragainst them will be Jihad, those getting killed in this will go to jannat, where all thepleasures of the jannat, including 72 virgins will be available for them. Most of thecurrent myths about jihad, kafir, and terrorists being bred in madrasas start from thismassive operation launched by US. It is this effort which took the shape of Al Qaeda.

The US propaganda machine, keeps dishing out different slogans to serve its foreignpolicy. In cold war era it was defense of freedom, now it is war on terror. The US mediaand other media world over following the trails of US, toe the same line.

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--**--War Crimes Tribunal: Afghanistan

International Tribunal: War Crimes against Afghanistan

(Excerpts)

17. Verdict:

I find the Defendant , George Walker Bush , President of the United States and

Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces guilty –

1. Under Article 2 of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan

and under International Criminal Law ,for waging a war of aggression against

Afghanistan and the Afghan people ;

2.Under Article 3, Part I , clause (a) , (b), (c) ,(d), (f),(g) and Article 3, Part II, clause

(a),(b),(c)(d),(e),(f), (h)(I),(k),(l),(n),(o),(p),(q) of the Statute of the International Criminal

Tribunal for Afghanistan, under International Criminal Law and International

Humanitarian Law , in respect of War Crimes committed against the people of

Afghanistan by the use of weapons prohibited by the laws of warfare causing death and

destruction to the Afghan people ; maiming men , women and children;

3.Under Article 4 , clause (a) ,(b),(d ),(e),(f) ,(h) and (i ) of the Statute of the International

Criminal Tribunal and International Humanitarian Law , for Crimes Against Humanity

committed against the people of Afghanistan; resulting in inhumane acts affecting large

sections of the population cause by the military invasion , bombing , and lack of

humanitarian relief ;

4. Under Article 3, Part I , clause (a),(b),(c),(f),(g) and Article 3 , Part II clause (f),(k),(p),

and (q) of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan , under

International Criminal Law and the Hague Convention and Geneva Convention (III ) of

1949 in respect of the torture and killings of Taliban and other prisoners of war who had

surrendered and their torture and inhumane conditions of detention and deportation of

innocent civilians;

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In respect of the transport of prisoners in sealed Containers and their death due to

suffocation and filing of rifle shots at the Container for creating holes for ventilation with

the prisoners inside; and for conditions at Sheberghan prison; the Defendant is entitled to

benefit of doubt at this trial however the issues are left open for trial, before any other

court /Tribunal; as the evidence before the Tribunal is not conclusive on the involvement

of United States forces;

5. Under Article 3, Part I (c ) and ( g ); Article 3 Part 2 ( a), (b) ,(c) ,(d ) ( e) (h) ( i) ( l)

and Article 4 (b) ,(l) of (n) ,( p),(q) of the ICTA in respect of the serious humanitarian

situation resulting from the refugee exodus in Afghanistan due to the bombing of civilian

population and civilian infrastructure in a country already affected by serious famine

resulting in mass exodus of people and death from bombing , hunger ,displacement,

disease ; and absence of humanitarian relief ;

(http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2004/Afghanistan-Criminal-Tribunal10mar04.htm)

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International Tribunal on War Crimes against Iraq

The Jury of ConscienceIstanbul, 27 June, 200527 Jun 2005

(Excerpts from Press Release)

‘The attack on Iraq is an attack on justice, on liberty, on our safety, on our future, on us all’ –- With a Jury ofConscience from 10 different countries hearing the testimonies of 54 members of the Panel of Advocates who camefrom across the world, including Iraq, the United States and the United Kingdom, this global civil initiative came to anend with a press conference at the Hotel Armada where the chair of the Jury of Conscience, Arundathi Roy, announcedthe Jury’s conclusions.

The Jury defined this war as one of the most unjust in history: ‘The Bush and Blair administrations blatantly ignoredthe massive opposition to the war expressed by millions of people around the world. They embarked upon one of themost unjust, immoral, and cowardly wars in history. The Anglo-American occupation of Iraq of the last 27 months hasled to the destruction and devastation of the Iraqi state and society. Law and order have broken down completely,resulting in a pervasive lack of human security; the physical infrastructure is in shambles; the health care deliverysystem is a mess; the education system has ceased to function; there is massive environmental and ecologicaldevastation; and, the cultural and archeological heritage of the Iraqi people has been desecrated.’

On the basis of the preceding findings and recalling the Charter of the United Nations and other legal documents, thejury has established the following charges against the Governments of the US and the UK:

• Planning, preparing, and waging the supreme crime of a war of aggression in contravention of the United NationsCharter and the Nuremberg Principles.• Targeting the civilian population of Iraq and civilian infrastructure• Using disproportionate force and indiscriminate weapon systems

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• Failing to safeguard the lives of civilians during military activities and during the occupation period thereafter• Using deadly violence against peaceful protestors• Imposing punishments without charge or trial, including collective punishment• Subjecting Iraqi soldiers and civilians to torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment• Actively creating conditions under which the status of Iraqi women has seriously been degraded

The Jury also provided a number of recommendations that include recognizing the right of the Iraqi people to resist theillegal occupation of their country and to develop independent institutions, and affirming that the right to resist theoccupation is the right to wage a struggle for self-determination, freedom, and independence as derived from theCharter of the United Nations, we the Jury of Conscience declare our solidarity with the people of Iraq and theimmediate and unconditional withdrawal of the coalition forces from Iraq.

(http://www.worldtribunal.org/main/?b=93)--**--

Panic Over Pacific Flights From London

BoxIn the middle of August 2006, a great splash of News from London declared that a plot toblow several aircrafts going to US has been unearthed and several arrests have beenmade. Following this severe security mechanisms were installed at different airports. Assuch there are some doubts about thee whole incident. “The fact is more than a week afterthe arrests, the police have not found any of the liquid explosives that were to have blownup the aircraft none of the 24 arrested had bought the air ticket, nor have the police foundany sign that they had planned to buy them on lastminute.com. A week of investigationhas mostly produced. only a globally orchestrated allegation. The fact that stood out is theextent to which people are prepared to believe what some Muslims might get to; thesuspicion itself stood as a fact…The evidence is being searched now; it wasn’t in handbefore the arrests were made.” (Suri, Outlook 28th August 2006)

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Myth: Islam’s teachings lead to violence. Islam is a violent religion. Islam spread throughviolence.

Fact: This again is a concoction built carefully in various stages. While on one hand theUS propaganda machinery picked up Islam as the “New threat”, after the collapse ofCommunist states, especially after the US stooge, Raza Shah Pehlavi was up rooted in arevolution by which came to be high jacked by Ayatollah Khomeini. Since US wasclaiming to take control of the oil zone, which it had been planning since it implanted thestate of Israel in the middle of Arab states, near the oil rich zone. Now with a vengeanceUS propaganda machine started projecting every political happening in the region in thecolor of religion. As such Islam stands for peace and it the message of peace whichProphet brought to the warring Arab tribes. Its scriptural meaning has many a times beendistorted by the Muslim rulers at times to use it for their political purposes, and lately bythe US propaganda machine for promoting the demonization of Islam to give it thepretext to attack country after country in the oil zone. In the past also Kings belonging toall religions have resorted to violence for their political goals, Crusade, Jihad and

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Dharmayuddh were the cover for the expansions of kingdoms, involved lot of violenceand were sanctioned by clergy. The people, the downtrodden were on the path of peaceand harmony despite being exploited by the landlords and kings. It is they who weremore with the message of peace of saints of all religions. Today violence is again relatedto power. Earlier as Kings used the language of religion for appropriating power, todayagain a section of powerful countries, especially the imperialists are using the garb ofreligion for their political goals.

The spread of Islam was multifaceted, mostly by the saints of Islam. Wile Kings ruled forpower and used sword for the same the Saints used the humane approach to give themessage of religion, that of peace. Today also Islam is spreading in the pats of US, moreso amongst the African American, who detests the oppression by the dominant section ofUS society. In India also Islam spread mainly through the teaching of Sufi saints. Theuntouchables of India, the Shudras were denied entry into temples, were oppressed by thedominant Hindu tradition of Brahmanism, and to escape this tyranny they embracedIslam to strive for social equality. As Swami Vivekanand, in his collected works volumeVIII, page 330 points out, Vivekananda "Why amongst the poor of India so many areMohammedans? It is nonsense to say that they were converted by the sword. It was togain liberty from Zamindars and Priests....."

Conversions were not the aim of Kings (except Ashoka) Formation of Muslimcommunity took place in various stages. To begin with it started emerging alongMalabar Coast when the Arab traders used to come for trade during Seventh CenturyA.D. They had a religious influence and many people through their interaction took toIslam. Arab army conquered Sind early in 8th Century, but it had a marginal impact onthe society. During 11th and 12th Centuries Turkish invasion brought in a largerinfluence of Islam. Initially this resulted in emergence of Muslim military aristocracy.But this spread was restricted in numbers. Another small trickle came from Hindu upper-classes, some of whom became Muslims either out of conviction, or (mainly) out of hopeof reward from the Muslim ruler.

But the main conversions came from the poor low caste untouchables, who despite beingthe formal part of Hindu fold were under the severe oppression and repression of uppercaste Brahmins and Brahmanism.

Myth: Islam and Democracy are not compatible!

Fact: Most of the religions emerged during the phase of Human society when there wasprevalence either of Tribal cults, or Feudal relations. With the industrialization processthe process of secularization (weakening of the grip of clergy on social affairs anddevelopment of relations of Liberty Equality and Fraternity) started coming up. TheNation states, which formed during this phase, had Christianity as the main religion andthe secularization process had to confront the church and bring in the new relations ofsociety.

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The countries where Islam was the major religion were mostly colonies. And here thefreedom struggle did introduce the process of secularization. Unfortunately thesecountries were also the one’s where the oil was discovered. Second WW was for thedivision of markets amongst the imperialist countries. With the discovery of oil in theMiddle East, with the emergence of America as the super power and the leadingindustrial Nation, the dynamics of the freedom movements changed. US began to thwartthe democratization process in different colonies and opposed the freedom movements ofmany a countries in the name of ‘Defense of Freedom’. In many a countries it had toloose face. In Vietnam, where despite facing heavy odds the Vietnam people held out andUS had to retreat from its mission of “Saving Freedom”, but in some of them it couldachieve the installation of puppet, feudal or the dictatorial regimes. In Chile thedemocratically elected Salvador Allende regime was overthrown and Pinochet, a militarydictator was installed. In both these countries the leader of the Govt. or revolution wasMarxists. It is interesting to note here that in some of the colonies the freedom movementand industrialization process could not be undertaken by the Industrialist class and so thecollective bureaucracy assumed the functions of the industrialist class.

Second WW also saw the formation of Israel in the heart of the Islamic Nations,surrounding the oil resources. Here the democratization process was quelled or counter-revolutions managed to push back the secularization and democratization process.

1. In Iran the Govt. of Mossadegh was overthrown and Raza Shah Pehalavi wasinstalled as the ruler in 1953 under the watchful eye of CIA. Mossadegh wasconsidering the Nationalization of Oil industry. Shah acted as a puppet andpermitted the plunder of his oil resources, brought in the symbols ofModernization, while suppressing the social transformation. The result was thewidening gulf between the rich and poor. Also he stifled the democraticinstitutions. The anger, frustration and helplessness of the people gave rise to themassive uprising against the Shah and installation of the clerical regime ofAyatollah Khomeini. Khomeini called America as the great Satan. Iraq and Iranhad a long stretching war following this. In the war America supported Iraq andpumped in funds and ammunition to get the war going.

2. The story of Afghanistan, currently facing the death from the bombing is verypeculiar. In 1978 People’s Democratic Party came to power and went in fordemocratic reforms on Secular lines. Following year, this Govt. was overthrownby conservative elements. Soviet Russia sent its army to bring back the rule,which could go in for social reforms and Modernization. America decided topromote the most fundamentalist sections of rebels like Osama bin-Laden and thefundamentalist outfit called Taliban, and helped them through and through tooverthrow the Russian army. And that brought in the rule of Taliban, which wasnurtured by US through the conduit of Pakistan. Meanwhile US did practicallyeverything to violate the unwritten and written rules of the International behavior.

3. In Iraq on the pretext of restoring the freedom of Sheikh of Kuwait, which hadbeen merged into Iraq as its 23rd state, US launched a massive attack on Iraq with aim andpurpose of restoring the ‘Freedom of Sheikh’. Sheikh of Kuwait is a puppet to the USthrough which US is able to control the oil taps of Kuwait. In the ensuing aggression of

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US, nearly 2 Lakh people died and later 5 Lakh died due to the sanctions imposed on Iraqdue to which its supply of Medicines and necessary items were stopped by the US.

4. Pakistan was the product of British policy of Divide and rule. It quickly came underthe grip of Military Mullah Complex. US backed up Pakistan in all its internal repressionof democracy and its offensive role in Kashmir. Bangla Desh broke away from Pakistanin 1971. It has been trying to restore democracy in some way, though slowly.

5. In Malaysia and Indonesia, which are predominantly Islamic Nations, there is a goodeffort to nurture democracy, despite limitations.

In nutshell in the countries with Muslim majority population there have been efforts tobring in democracy. The imperialists have crushed most of these efforts in order tocontrol the oil wealth of the region. Most of the Islamic nations are postcolonial statescaught up with the limitations and are unable to march comfortably towards democracy.Despite these limitations the ones away from the oil zone have been more successful inplanting the seeds of democracy in their countries. Wherever the colonial hold andrestrictions are there, the feudal relations and pre-democratic systems are promoted andsustained by the imperialist countries. The Imperialist countries promote theFundamentalist elements in the society. So the “Free World”, the imperialist countriesfirst ensure that democratic transformation should not take place in these countries as itgoes against their material interests and in the second step they blame that these countriesdo not have a democratic set up due to Islam. It serves the double purpose for them. Theycan launch the general anti-Islam tirade to sustain their control in these regions.

As we seen earlier Religions have come in period of time when democratic institutionswere not existing. None of the religions, in that sense can be the basis of democraticsociety. “As such there is a concept of society rather state (in Islam). As per someinterpretation of Islam basic task of Muslim Ummah is to build a moral society based ongood and negation of evil. The unity of Muslims is possible only if they remain basicallya religious community engaged in building a just society, which has no element of zulm(oppression and injustice), though there may be different ways of approaching the truth.”

(Asghar Ali Engineer, Aman, April-May 99)

Kalshian (Outlook, Oct.15th, 2001) states, nor is Islam specifically opposed to individualfreedom. It, for one, doesn't recognize the priestly class and the individual is expected toexercise ijtihad, or interpret the Quran, to follow what s/he thinks is the true path. It isquite another matter that the practice of ijtihad has been hijacked by the ulema, some ofwho take it upon themselves to issue fatwas to suit their whims. But then the problem isnot of Islamic tenets, it's more an outcome of anxiety that modernity breeds.

Myth: Amongst religions Islam is the one, which gives rise to Fundamentalism. It isopposed to democracy and individual freedom.

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Fact: It is necessary to define the term Fundamentalism first. It is used in two senses. Theorthodox believers of religions or ideologies use it the sense of going back to theFundamentals of a particular religion or the doctrine. Here the emphasis is on the originalscripture of that particular ideology or religion. The second meaning pertains to the use ofReligion for political goals of dominant section of society. In this sense the selectivelyculled out parts of the scriptures or practices, which are against the Human rights andequality of weaker sections, are implemented to suppress the libertarian aspirations ofthese sections. We are using the term in its second sense (political misuse of religion).

Fundamentalism comes up in different situations. Mostly it is a response of decliningsections (Feudal elements) backed by clergy to put brakes to the process of socialtransformations towards Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. First this phenomenon came upin the Protestant sect of Christianity in America in the face of the Industrializationprocess in the late Nineteenth Century and early Twentieth century. Ten small bookletswere published, which emphasized the basic values of Christianity. Most of these wereagainst the vassal’s and women’s legal equality. This phenomenon withered away withfurther Industrialization. From the late twentieth century one is witnessing thisphenomenon, particularly in the Islamic countries for reasons, which are a bit different.Ayatollah Khomeini’s regime was a Fundamentalist one. It was the only availablechannel of rebellion as Raza Shah Pehlvi of Iran stifled the democratic mechanisms. Inmany a Middle East countries similar value systems, mostly targeting at the liberation ofwomen came up, by suppressing the rights of Women and other weaker sections ofsociety. Similarly many an Arab countries also were already resorting to this ideology. Inmost of the Islamic countries around the Oil zone, US encouraged the rule of Sheikhs andMullah backed regimes as these were easy prays for satisfying the oil lust of US.

The status of clergy in Fundamentalist regimes is very exalted. In our own neighboringPakistan, these trends were there from the beginning as the Feudal lords and Mullahsdominated it. With Zia ul Haq’s regime it got institutionalized. At different timesdifferent religions have been used as a cover for the political goals of sections of society.Islam based fundamentalism is just one of them. In that sense Islam is no different as faras its political misuse is concerned. Lately new terms have come in to offing. Theseconvey the fundamental politics while retaining the religious root of the term like-Hindutva, Islamism. These are not religions but since their names have the componentsof religion to mislead the gullible into supporting this politics. These terms help inmobilizing the broad sections of society, who get the impression that it is part of theirreligious striving.

“Islamism began in 1920s. The 1980s saw a third generation come of age. Because oftheir militancy they are mostly referred to as Jehadists, and they state in all clarity that forthem jihad is not a matter of moral rearmament (as many Muslims wish jihad to beunderstood), but armed struggle, their favorite form of self purification being‘martyrdom’(Khalid Durran), The Globalization of Terrorism, In Review, Fall 2000). Theconcept of Jihad as armed struggle began from 1927 with a book on Jihad, Al-jihad fil-Islam; parts of this were translated into English Muslim self statements in India andPakistan (Wiesbaden, Harassowitz, 1970). Just to reiterate as per Quran Jihad means

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striving, expending power and effort, to spread the word of Allah to crate a just andcompassionate society.

The other definition of Islamism is spelt in Political Islam in the Indian Subcontinent (F.Grare, Manohar, 2001). This one goes on to state, ‘Islamism can, indeed, not be reducedto religious fervor or to extreme moral rigor-ism characteristic of the Taliban or bereduced to the recourse to violence. It is defined essentially, in its relationship to politicsand hence to the state, by its efforts towards realization of a truly Muslim society.” inIslamism the conquest of political power is justified by the will to impose the Sharia, thesole juridical basis of social relationships before which no other non-Islamic law canexist. “It is an assumption which makes Islamism totalitarian.”(Ibid) And that conformsto any political system deriving its legitimacy from religion or race. Asghar Ali Engineera noted Islamic scholar, who has interpreted Islam in a liberal manner, points out, ‘Theconcept of Jihad in Islam has been grossly misunderstood by Muslims and non-Muslims.It is thought that Islam encourages violence and force and that Allah wants to spreadIslam with sword or at the point of gun. The acts of some Muslim extremists andterrorists provide proof for this violent image of Islam…Truth is quite otherwise” (Islamand Modern Age, Vol. I,1998, Mumbai). Engineer further points out, ‘there is noquestion of force or violence in spreading Islam. This was popularized by the West afterthe crusades, which again had nothing to do with spread of religion. It was, in fact thewars of territorial conquest. As far as the spread of religion is concerned Quran rules outviolence completely through number of pronouncements. It very forcefully states, laikrah fi’al-din (there is no compulsion in religion (2:256). Also it makes it plain that onecan invite to the path of Allah through wisdom and godly manner (16:125). It is no lessimportant that Quran accepted the truth brought by Prophets before Muhammad. (Ibid)

The Khalistani movement was also fundamentalist in nature. It remained only amovement of rebellion and did not achieve power to exercise its control on the weakersections. Hindutva had come up in response to the rising secular movement of IndianNational Congress. It did not grow to threaten democracy in India. But during last twodecades it has assumed menacing proportions due to the rise in the number of middleclasses, (Rich peasants, rich professionals, petty industrialists etc.) It also derives itslegitimacy from a particular version of Hinduism (Brahminical) and is repressive toWomen and Dalits. The Islamic terrorists harbor the same values i.e. being repressivetowards weaker section.

This use of Religion for retrograde politics, which is against the Human rights of weakersections of society, cuts across different religions. It is true that currently the majorfundamentalist stream derives its legitimacy from Islam but that is more because ofpeculiar circumstances and the role of Imperialism and not because of any peculiarity ofIslam as a religion.

Myth: RSS is actively fighting against Terrorism!

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Fact: On the contrary, RSS combine’s certain wings are directly involved with acts ofterror. On April 6th 2006, two Bajrang dal Activists were killed while making a bomb inthe house of an RSS sympathizer. The event was not much taken note of by the nationalmedia. Maharashtra’s Anti Terror Squad, after investigating the event confirmed thatthese activists were being trained in making bombs. On the site, a powerful IED, pipebomb, and a diary with the tips for making bombs was found. All the functionaries ofRSS affiliates went to offer condolences for the dead and most of them visited otheractivists who were in hospital. The BJP MP of the area asked the police not to ‘harass’the ‘innocent’ members of Bajrang Dal. The bail was granted to the collaborators of theaccused while the police prosecutor had no objections to bail being granted.

After this incident, police conducted many a raids in nearby places and haul of explosivematerial and other ammunition was found. It was claimed that this was seized from the‘usual suspects’, the ‘Islamic’ terrorists.

On 1st June 2006, in Nagpur, in an early morning encounter, the police claimed to havekilled three dreaded terrorists of Fidayeen group, who as per the police version, wereplanning to attack the RSS head office. In this encounter, no eye witnesses were there,and police version was the only source of knowing the truth. The police commissionerclaimed that the car had huge quantities of ammunition, but all the same, police coulddecimate all the three terrorists, without getting any serious injury. The next morningpolice hogged the lime light for its act. It was claimed that police had got a diary from thecar giving the details of the terrorists; they were Islamic terrorists from Pakistan, andwere cremated in the Islamic manner. As usual it was a screaming headline in most of thenational media

So far in such incidents, the police version is accepted by the media and the nation in anuncritical way. Since all around the air of terror perpetrated by Islamic terrorists is heavy,one more such incident is received with some alarm, demonization of Muslims and Islamis taken one step higher, and the matter rests there. In this case two of the RSS trainedpoliticians, Gujarat Chief Minister Modi and MP Chief Minister Chauhan, gave cashrewards to the police personnel who killed the terrorists, in other state. Not to be leftbehind, the ex Chief of Bajrang dal, another RSS prachark, announced a hefty cashreward to any civilian who kills the terrorists. Here all the legal niceties were kept asideand two CMs and one top BJP leader, as if reading from a prepared script, went on tomaul the norms of Indian constitution and talked of things which cannot stand thescrutiny of law of the land...

Smelling a rat, some civic action groups formed a citizen’s inquiry committee to knowthe truth of the incident (http://www.pluralindia.com/articles.php?id=115). So far not many citizensgroups have investigated such acts of terror. The team had retired Judge of Maharashtrahigh court as the Chair person and many prominent social activists as the members. Theteam did all in its means to piece together the available information from local media andpeople concerned and concluded that police version has too many holes to be trusted. Thecommittee has demanded a probe by the competent authority from the center. Despite itsfrequent requests, the police officials refused to talk to them as if they have something to

22

hide. On the contrary police cast aspersions on the motives and linkages of the teammembers. Police claims of the terrorists carrying 5.4 Kilos of RDX and a sealed box ofhand grenades does not match with the meek surrender of the terrorists. Some of the localpeople whom the committee met said there was a firing in the air few days before in thesame area where the incident took place. And this firing sounded like a repeat of theearlier one. Had this act been rehearsed already?

One realizes that investigating such incidents by civil groups is very difficult. Police andauthorities don’t cooperate; on the contrary they put up all the roadblocks. In the AnsalPlaza case also Kulpdeep Nayyar’s petition to human rights commission, doubting thepolice version, went unanswered. Interestingly, all such attacks hog the headlines fordays, and eyes are closed to the holes in the police version in the name of nationalsecurity.

Anti Terrorist Squad’s concluded that the activists who were involved belonged toBajrang Dal, despite that this organization continues to be a legal entity. Also the affiliateand sister organizations have not been touched. Despite the alarming fact that they werebeing trained in bomb making, the state govt is sleeping over the issue.

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Box

Is RSS A Terrorist Organization?

One does not know as to what criterion the US based Terrorism Research Center (2005), the USthink tank on this issue, has used but it has gone on to label RSS, the patriarch of Hindutvaorganizations, BJP, VHP, Bajarang dal etc., as a terrorist outfit. RSS shares this category withother organizations defamed in different parts of the World as terrorists like Al Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Hamas etc. Sangh's (RSS progeny) own definition and understanding of terrorists hasbeen summed up by RSS pracharak (propagator) and current Gujarat Chief Minister, NarendraModi in the sentence, "All Muslims are not terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims!" How come aMuslim baiter organization itself has been so labeled!

It is important to concede here that terrorism emerges from ideology of groups with specific goals.It is also important to realize that all those who manufacture this goal and ideology, which leads toviolence are terrorists or rather they are the real ones'. And if the blame is to be apportioned, theyshould be held more responsible before the finger is pointed to those who use sword, bullets orAK 47 or who pilot the planes to ram into WTC or the like.

No doubt the RSS pracharks will never even go to pick up arms, to kill anybody personally. Evenin RSS shakhas training is given only for wielding lathis, batons. Of course keeping with timesRSS progeny Bajarang dal and Durga vahini have begun to give training in the use of firearmsand VHP is distributing knives, disguised as trishuls in thousands, but in RSS shakhas these areno. Apart from the lathi wielding the other part of the training is bauddhik (intellectual). Thistraining is based on the spread of hatred for minorities, hatred for secular and democratic values.It goes on to say that in this nation of Hindus, others, Muslims and Christians are aliens, also thatCommunists, Muslims and Christians are internal threat to Hindu nation.

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The venom of hate is tailor made for each community. Muslims are equated to yavan snakes.Prof Bipan Chandra narrates his experience in listening to the shakha training. While on amorning walk he overheard the young boys attending the shakha being told that Muslims are likesnakes. It is easier to kill a young snake rather than the grown up one. The message of this'intellectual' exercise is too clear. The inspiration and methods of Hate are picked up from theNazi Germany. RSS ideologue Golwalkar articulated it, “German race pride has now becometopic of the day. To keep up the purity of nation and its culture, Germany shocked the world byher purging the country of Semitic races-the Jews. National pride at its highest has beenmanifested here. Germany has also shown how well-neigh impossible it is for races and cultureshaving differences going to the root, to be assimilated into one united whole, a good lesson for usin Hindustan to learn and profit by." (M.S. Golwalkar, We or Our Nationhood defined, Nagpur1938 p.27).

The RSS ideology's outcome first got manifested in Godse's murdering of Gandhi. Of course RSSnever owned the fact that Godse was trained by RSS and was RSS pracharak before he decidedto join Hindu Mahasabha. His brother Gopal Godse maintained in different interviews that they(his brother Nathuram and he himself) had never left RSS. Most of the inquiry commission reportson the communal violence (Justice Reddy, Vithayathil, Venugopal, Madon and others) haveshown irrefutably that their has been a role of some organization affiliated to or floated by apracharak of RSS, which has played crucial role in the violence.

The strategy is very clear, RSS trains the volunteers who carry on the RSS work by joining orfloating different organizations. The advantage of this strategy is that the blame of riots can nevercome directly on the RSS. One recalls that after the defeat in 1937 elections, Muslim Leaguesand Hindu Mahsabha stepped up their Hate other campaigns as they could not win the electionson the appeal of their religion. RSS also stepped up its hate other campaign. These poisonousseeds of hatred were dormant and are bearing the poisonous fruits more so after the decade of1980. This hate other ideology passes through different conveyor belts and its final stop is thatwhere the poor gullible sections take up arms, intoxicated by the opium of hate ideology which islaced in the language of religion for desired effect.

RSS and Muslim League in pre-partition times were the expression of the fears of feudalelements that their norms and values are under threat in the wake of modern education,industrialization and the values of Liberty, Equality and fraternity becoming the major ideology ofthe struggling masses. The same fear, existential anxiety, of another middle classes has gotcrystallized in the politics of RSS. And this is the coming up of dalits and women demandingsocial and gender justice some themselves. Whatever is the deeper societal agenda, RSSmethods and mechanisms of action do give rise to the VHPs, Bajarang dals and Durga Vahinis. Itis probably this deeper understanding of the dynamics of RSS functioning which must haveprompted the research center to label it as a terrorist organization.

RSS training is on twin tracks. One is the physical one, games and all that. The second is thebauddhik one. It is the latter which motivates its progeny to incite people to take up arms and killthe 'other', the 'enemy' in the ruthless fashion. The anatomy of a riot, violence, is very interestingand complex both at the same time. How the average dalit, adivasi, worker with empty stomachand non existent future is mobilized as the foot soldier of RSS agenda, is something socialscientists have to explain. RSS pracharak may be at the same time sitting and giving a quietdiscourse on Hindu values, Hindu rashtra while RSS ideology will grip the section of population tounleash violence, to kill the innocents. It does achieve the political goal of consolidation of sectionof Hindus behind RSS; it does make them come back to power or strengthen its power. Thedefinition with which we began was killing of innocents for power or political agenda is terrorism.And that's precisely what RSS work does.

The only point of overt confusion some times can be that unlike Osama, or the AK 47 wieldingterrorist in parts of the World, RSS volunteer will appear to be the apostle of quietness. And this is

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the wiliest and cleverest part of RSS operation. To achieve its goal, to get the minorities beatenand killed without taking up the arms oneself. The violence is leased out by clever social andpsychological manipulation. In that sense AK 47 may miss the target but a mind poisoned andinitiated by Hate ideology propagated by RSS will come out as violence some time or the other,here or there, it's just a question of time. Culture, the cloak of this organization is the most subtlydisguised cover for the terrorist goals of this organization. This terrorist outfit kills many birds in asingle stone, the birds being minorities and weaker sections of society. But of course there will bemuch noise that name of RSS should be taken off from the list of this research center. In case ofRSS, this outfits' culture is the terror for large sections of minorities and weaker sections ofsociety in India.

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Epilogue

Al Qaeda or Al Fayda- Roots of Global Terror

"These gentlemen are the moral equivalents of America's founding fathers." (Ronald Regan while introducing the Mujahideen leaders to media on the White house lawns. (1985) "Americans are asking: why do they hate us? They hate our freedoms-our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other." George W. Bush, in his speech in US Congress in the aftermath of 9/11. (2001) These two statements reflect the so-called transition of freedom fighters of which US administration was proud to the same one's being called enemies of US. When Tony Blair in the aftermath of 7/7 uttered his feelings that our resolve to uphold our values is stronger than their resolve to break it, he was referring to the people with same ideology and politics whom Regan praised to the sky and about whom GW Bush had the totally contrary view.

What has changed during last one and a half decade, have 'they' changed? Or is it that US needs have undergone a rapid transition during this decade? The reference to the ghastly acts of terrorism of 9/11 and 7/7 does send the shivers down one's spine. Not only the killings of innocents, non combatants in 9/11 and 7/7 is extremely heinous and cowardly, but also the aftermath of such actions is something one needs to mull over. The ongoing terrorism and 'war on terror' both are affecting the societies in a painful manner. While on one hand killings of innocents is a matter of deep anguish the post terror polarization of communities on religious ground and the demonization of Islam are the consequences, which have deeper impact on the lives of people world over.

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To begin with, the question is, who did it? Surprisingly after 9/11 the investigation has not been very definitive. It was presumed, Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda is the ones' behind the tragic event. Afghanistan was invaded on the pretext of catching hold of Osama, nearly sixty thousand people were killed by the US attack, but could not be caught hold of. Incidentally it was bin Osama who was projected to be the primary culprit against whom the war is being waged. US did 'succeed' in installing its puppet Govt. in Afghanistan and also in taking control of the huge oil reserves around Afghanistan. On the ground that Iraq is a threat to US security, and also that it is harboring Al Qaeda, it was invaded; thousands of Iraqis have since than perished and hundreds of US armed personnel have been killed. The sexual torture of Abu Ghraib prison might have been just a tip of the iceberg hiding more, which we will never come to know. There are also doubts about the real culprit of 9/11 so to say, as conclusive evidence has not been produced by the US. Tony Blair did not loose even minutes to hint that 'same' culprits are involved. Some reports pointed out that it is the act of Secret Organization Group of Al-Qaeda, which in it’s temporarily put up web site, claimed, ".We continue to the warn the Governments of Denmark and Italy and all Crusader Governments, that they will be punished in the same way if they do not withdraw their troops from Iraq and Afghanistan." Even in the aftermath of 9/11 there were serious doubts raised about the perpetrator of the event, whether it was Al Qaeda or was it some other agency. Any way, a pretext to attack Afghanistan could be cooked up with ease. Even now doubts are being raised that since there is a pressure on the UK Govt. to withdraw the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and this incident will ensure that troops continue to be in Iraq. On one hand we have Al Qaeda and the like, who in the name of Jihad are committing havoc. These actions in the name of Jihad, are the worst enemies of Muslims as a community. These create hatred against this community and the demonization process against Muslims and Islam gets a boost after every such event. The targeting of average Muslims as terrorists and criminals get biggest justification from such acts. These actions are the ones', which have laid the foundation of the ideology guiding many Western powers and also other countries. The other factor is the policy of Western powers, which so far has been steadfastly supporting Israel's violation of the rights of Palestinian people and its blatant vandalism in the neighboring region. The Jihadi terrorism as such was consciously brought up and promoted not by any Muslim country. It was the handiwork of US, CIA in its goal to contain the influence of Communism during the era of cold war. During that period many a countries strived for nationalism to get rid of the clutches of colonial powers. Most such endeavors were opposed by Western powers with US in the lead. With the success of communists coming to power in Afghanistan, US administration started promoting the opponents

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of communist regime. Communists tried to bring in land reforms, curtail the opium cultivation, and this hurt the interests of the feudal and orthodox elements. These opponents to communist regime, the elite, were right wing Islamists. It was from this Muslim right wing that Al Qaeda was formed with the direct patronage of U.S. Billions of dollars of aid and armaments, including stringer missiles were given to Al Qaeda by U.S. Al Qaeda grouped together with the help of Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. With the defeat of communist forces US became more assertive and started interfering in the region with vehemence, the attack on Iraq in 1993 was the first manifestation of the same. The Right wing Islamists felt the threat of US presence and the rest is too fresh in our memories to be recounted. Anti Islamism now came to substitute Anti Communism as the 'other' of imperialist powers. Lured by the oil wealth of the region US-UK axis has violated every possible international law and has removed all roadblocks to its pursuits for profit (Fayda). This axis also attacked Afghanistan and Iraq telling the World that this is the only way to make their countries safer for themselves. Can such blatant violation of human and international norms make the world safer? And pray tell me, which is the bigger curse of the World today: Al Qaeda or Al Fayda?

- -Wish of an Iraqi Child

Avalyn Mathis

When I lookAt the purple blue skyAt night,I want to see stars,Not bombers, circling the moonilight.

I want to watch shooting starsor cometsInstead of the flareOf crashing bombsOf the streetsOut there

Stars are the angel-bridgesOf comfort –nothing should blocTheir light- -Poems by Children on Diversity, Tolerance and World Peacehttp://artscape.edwardbabinski.us/paperdoll/paperdoll-diversity.html

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- -Bibliography

Ahmad, Ajiaz, On Communalism & Globalization: Offensives of the Far Right, ThreeEssaysAhmad, Aijaz, Iraq, Afghanistan & the Imperialism of Our Time, Delhi: Left WordBooks, 2004,Ali, Tariq, The Clash of Fundamentalism: Crusades, Jihads & Modernity, Delhi: RupaCo., 2002, Pages: 428Armstrong, Karen, Islam: A Short History, Phoenix Press London:Koshy, Ninan, WAR ON TERROR: Reordering the world, Leftward, p. 146, DelhiMaley, William, Afghanistan & the Taliban: The Rebirth of Fundamentalism? Delhi:Penguin Books India, 2001, p.253Mamdani, Mahmood, Good Muslim Bad Muslim, Orient Longman, Hydrabad, 2003Puniyani, Ram, TERRORISM IMPERIALISM & WAR, Mumbai, BUILD, Mumbai,P.227Prashad, Vijay, War against the Planet: The Fifth Afghan War, Imperialism, & OtherAssorted Fundamentalisms, Delhi: Left Word Books, 2002, Pages: 110Price: Rs. 75Imam, Zafar, Iraq-2003: The Return of Imperialism, Delhi: Aakar Books, 2004, Pages:112Said, Edward W. The End of the Peace Process: Oslo & After, New York: VintageBooks, 2000, 389

Boxes1.

Again, in Turkey, the Islamic Refah (Welfare) Party was banned in 1998,to deny it the chance to repeat its spectacular performance in the 1995elections. In Algeria, the Islamic Salvation Front was proscribed in 1992after it swept the first round of elections, sucking the country into ahorrific vortex of violence.

Ironically, all these countries have secular regimes-as do Egypt, Libya,Iraq-and look askance at attempts of Islamists to capture the levers ofpower through election. This exacerbates existing tensions in the society.Be it the checkmating of Nasser in Egypt, opposing Nationalist upsurgesin Algeria, Syria and Lebanon down to bombing the pharma factory inSudan.

Critics say the real motive of the argument that Islam and Democracy areincompatible is political. It serves as an alibi for the West's complicitywith the worst of Islamic tyrannies (on the grounds that the West mustrespect their “cultural specificity") and also justifies the suppression of

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their radical movements in the name of democracy. Thus, if there has to bedictatorship, at least let it be pro-West.Rajesh Kalshian, Outlook, October 15th, 2001

2.Box

Islam did not introduce veiling or seclusion in Arabic countries. Long before the adventof Islam, veiling and seclusion appear to have existed in the Hellenistic-Byzantine eraand among the Sassanians of Persia. In ancient Mesopotamia, the veil of women wasregarded as a sign of respectability and status. Decent married women wore the veil todifferentiate themselves from women slaves and unchaste women. The latter were in factforbidden to cover their heads.

(Behind The Veil, Dr. Zeenat Shaukat Ali, Asian Age, Nov 21.20010

3.

Box“...Quran makes number of statements accepting plurality of religion. In one of the verses(5:48) it says, ‘for every one of you we appointed a law and a way. And if Allah hadpleased He would have made you a single people, but that he might try you in what Hegave you. So vie one with another in virtuous deeds’. The Quran emphasizes three thingsin the above verse. One, that every Nation or people have a law and a way. The peoplefollow this law and the way. While law refers to legal requirements, ‘way’ refers tospiritual path. The law and the way will naturally be conditioned by requirements ofpeople though the universal principles may be common.”

Islam And Other Religions, Asghar Ali Engineer, Institute of Islamic Studies. Vol. I,No.4 April 1998)

References:Asghar Ali. Engineer, Islam and Modern Age, Vol. I, 1998, MumbaiAsghar Ali Engineer, Islam and the concept of Jihad, Institute of IslamicStudies, Vol.1, Oct 1998Asghar Ali Engineer-Concept of Islamic State, Aman, April-May 99Dhavan, Rajeev, Get the Guilty, Times of India, August 23Grare,F. Manohar, New Delhi, 2001

Hasan, Mushirul, (Interview, www.tehelka.com)Hensman,Rohini, Terrorism, Imperialism and War, Build Mumbai 2002,p.29Khalid Durran, The Globalization of Terrorism, In Review, Fall 2000Imam Raghib Asfahani Mufradat al-Qur'an, pp-916-17, Lahore,1971Suri, Sanjay. The Great Britain Bust, Outlook 28th August 2006

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Puniyani, Ram, Communal Politics, Sage Delhi 2002Puniyani, Ram, Terrorism, Imperialism and War, Build Mumbai 2002

-*Ram Puniyani is a writer activist, working on the issues related to preservation ofdemocratic values. He has been focusing on the threats of sectarian politics in the nameof religion and the threat posed by the imperialist aggressions for the lust of oil. Haswritten, Communal Politics: Facts versus Myths; Contours of Hindu Rashtra; SecondAssassination of Gandhi; Indian Democracy: Pluralism and Minorities, amongst others.Contributes a fortnightly article, Issues in Secular Politics. ram.puniyani@gmail.com,www.pluralindia.com