09-09-2006, 10:32 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Taleban town
But residents were not impressed by the police intelligence-gathering network.
Drug store owner Sheikh Rashid said the police should have enough information on militant activity because the city has been under surveillance since some local men were arrested a few months ago.
Imran Ansari, meanwhile, is angry.
He lost his brother and two young nephews in the bomb attacks.
The trio had gone to the mosque to offer Friday prayers, but never returned.
"We are looked at suspiciously by the police. But has any Hindu been killed by Muslims here, ever? Has there been any communal riot between Hindus and Muslims in recent times?" he asked.
It is unfair to treat townspeople as supporters of Islamic militancy, he says.
It was this nondescript town five years ago that had witnessed a large scale protest over the US invasion of Afghanistan.
Police killed 12 Muslim protesters after a brief altercation with them.
The Taleban government had enjoyed immense support in Malegaon.
But why do they react to the attacks on Muslim countries?
Mohammed Irfan, a member of a large crowd around me, answered:
"If a needle is pierced in any part of your body the whole body hurts, doesn't it? The Muslims all over the world are like a human body."
But does it hurt to see no Muslim country came out to condemn the latest attacks on them?
"It's their problem. We do our duty... It's an obligation by Islam to support Muslims and we do our Islamic duty."
And perhaps this is the mindset that worries the establishment the most.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5330832.stm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
But residents were not impressed by the police intelligence-gathering network.
Drug store owner Sheikh Rashid said the police should have enough information on militant activity because the city has been under surveillance since some local men were arrested a few months ago.
Imran Ansari, meanwhile, is angry.
He lost his brother and two young nephews in the bomb attacks.
The trio had gone to the mosque to offer Friday prayers, but never returned.
"We are looked at suspiciously by the police. But has any Hindu been killed by Muslims here, ever? Has there been any communal riot between Hindus and Muslims in recent times?" he asked.
It is unfair to treat townspeople as supporters of Islamic militancy, he says.
It was this nondescript town five years ago that had witnessed a large scale protest over the US invasion of Afghanistan.
Police killed 12 Muslim protesters after a brief altercation with them.
The Taleban government had enjoyed immense support in Malegaon.
But why do they react to the attacks on Muslim countries?
Mohammed Irfan, a member of a large crowd around me, answered:
"If a needle is pierced in any part of your body the whole body hurts, doesn't it? The Muslims all over the world are like a human body."
But does it hurt to see no Muslim country came out to condemn the latest attacks on them?
"It's their problem. We do our duty... It's an obligation by Islam to support Muslims and we do our Islamic duty."
And perhaps this is the mindset that worries the establishment the most.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/5330832.stm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->