Most certainly, the answer is not to pay back in the same coin. The perpetrators are long gone, and we cannot take revenge on history.
On the other hand, we must understand how this has changed the nature of our society.
The only answer is to reconcile hindus and muslims, and try to achieve greater integration among the population.
Take the example of Kerala. There are millions of muslims there, but the region has not seen communal riots because the muslims of kerala consider themselves a part of the local society. They don't demand special treatment, and the rest of society doesn't consider them as outsiders.
Sadly, apart from this tiny island of prosperity, and a few more, most of the islamic world is being manipualted by the extremist version of it.
However, because of the monotheistic nature of islam, it is very difficult to fragment islam.
Whether Islam becomes more intolerant or more moderate, the change will affect all muslims, not just some of them.
In such a situation, one must tread carefully, and try to minimize the effect of this ideology on Indian muslims.
If this is not done, the 100 million muslims of india will become a huge liability.
One of the theories of the RSS, to counteract the increasing influence of the Taliban/Al Qaida ideology is to change the loyalty of Indian muslims from mecca to somewhere in India. However, it is not possible to do so without changing the quran (unfeasible).
Another way might be to adopt the Singaporean/Indonesian model and try to convince the Indian muslims to interpret the religion for themselves. This idea that the Saudis are the ones to decide what Islam means, should be removed from the minds of these people.
It is for too long that the Arabs have considered it their sole right to interpret the book. A new movement is needed to interpret Islam to suit the local society, not the arabic one.
The people of Pakistan must also realize that it is not upto the Saudis to tell them how to practice their religion.
