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‘Islam a bystander dragged into conflicts, subjected to finger-pointing’
As the conflict in Afghanistan drags into its tenth year and Pakistan fights its own demons, questions on the nature of conflicts and the role played by Islam continue to be asked. What role does Islam actually play in edging these conflicts? What are the legal tenets of jihad according to the Quran? And ultimately, does the war exist merely to exploit the resources that ravaged countries have in abundance. Answers to such questions were debated at the launch of the book Winning the Peace: A Quest by Zeenat Shaukat Ali.
Shuakat Ali posed the following question: If Islam is a peaceful religion, one that shies away from promoting violence, why is it that it increasingly gets engulfed by violence? It is easy to finger-point at Islam, in the same manner in which communism was demonised during the Cold War, she says, adding that it is now political Islam that carries the brunt. Further, Shaukat Ali says there exists a small segment of society, the so-called military-industrial complex, that finds conflicts lucrative and Islam is an innocent bystander that gets dragged into them.
True, says Salman Khurshid, Corporate and Minorities Affair Minister, who has written the foreword for the book. “There are generations that haven’t seen peace in their lifetimes.” But he does have a lot of hope invested in India, though it has seen many periods of disquiet and divisions.
Admiral Ram Das also nods in the affirmative. “Hangovers from the past have not been resolved,” he says, going deeper into the reasons for Islam’s place in ongoing conflicts. His argument is simple — a child is not born a terrorist, he or she becomes one. The need of the hour, thus, is to understand why the youth is being pushed towards extremism. “Is it us who have let them down by way of governance,” he asks.
Farooq Abdullah sparks a debate by looking at the past. His contention is that Islam is not a religion of violence, but something that has been cornered by global situations and developments. Citing AF/PAK as an example, Abdullah says, “It was the US that armed Pakistan to the teeth in order to get the Russians out, and they left a country ravaged in the process. How different would our present have been should they have stayed?”
He concludes with remarks directed at the Pakistani establishment: “To our neighbour, we don’t want your territory, we never have. We want to see a stable democracy in Pakistan.”
What he says next gets him a standing ovation: “They say we are a Hindu India, that we are their enemy. But they do they not realise that the world’s second largest Muslim population resides in India.”
As the conflict in Afghanistan drags into its tenth year and Pakistan fights its own demons, questions on the nature of conflicts and the role played by Islam continue to be asked. What role does Islam actually play in edging these conflicts? What are the legal tenets of jihad according to the Quran? And ultimately, does the war exist merely to exploit the resources that ravaged countries have in abundance. Answers to such questions were debated at the launch of the book Winning the Peace: A Quest by Zeenat Shaukat Ali.
Shuakat Ali posed the following question: If Islam is a peaceful religion, one that shies away from promoting violence, why is it that it increasingly gets engulfed by violence? It is easy to finger-point at Islam, in the same manner in which communism was demonised during the Cold War, she says, adding that it is now political Islam that carries the brunt. Further, Shaukat Ali says there exists a small segment of society, the so-called military-industrial complex, that finds conflicts lucrative and Islam is an innocent bystander that gets dragged into them.
True, says Salman Khurshid, Corporate and Minorities Affair Minister, who has written the foreword for the book. “There are generations that haven’t seen peace in their lifetimes.” But he does have a lot of hope invested in India, though it has seen many periods of disquiet and divisions.
Admiral Ram Das also nods in the affirmative. “Hangovers from the past have not been resolved,” he says, going deeper into the reasons for Islam’s place in ongoing conflicts. His argument is simple — a child is not born a terrorist, he or she becomes one. The need of the hour, thus, is to understand why the youth is being pushed towards extremism. “Is it us who have let them down by way of governance,” he asks.
Farooq Abdullah sparks a debate by looking at the past. His contention is that Islam is not a religion of violence, but something that has been cornered by global situations and developments. Citing AF/PAK as an example, Abdullah says, “It was the US that armed Pakistan to the teeth in order to get the Russians out, and they left a country ravaged in the process. How different would our present have been should they have stayed?”
He concludes with remarks directed at the Pakistani establishment: “To our neighbour, we don’t want your territory, we never have. We want to see a stable democracy in Pakistan.”
What he says next gets him a standing ovation: “They say we are a Hindu India, that we are their enemy. But they do they not realise that the world’s second largest Muslim population resides in India.”
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