05-21-2007, 04:21 AM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Hyderabad clues </b>
The Pioneer Edit Desk
Sectarian war first step to terrorism
At one level, last Friday's bomb blast in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid is validation of the assertion that Muslims themselves are the biggest victims of the currents driving contemporary jihad. By all accounts, the act of terror that was executed in the Andhra Pradesh capital was not aimed at Hindus or any other group of 'infidels' but was the direct result of a sectarian crisis, a civil war almost, within the city's Muslims. The growing presence and influence of "<span style='color:red'>outsider" Tableeghi Jamaat preachers was objected to by the entrenched religio-political establishment and, somewhere along the way, led to an explosive clash. </span>It would be easy here to paint the Tableeghis as the villains, the puritanical Wahaabis out to shatter the city's supposed multicultural character. After all, the Tableeghi Jamaat is not new to such vitiation. <b>It was seen as responsible for the aggressive proselytisation in Gujarat, changing the character of Islam in parts of the State and leading to, ultimately, the tragedy at Godhra. In Pakistan, the Tableeghis are at the forefront of Islamisation of everything from civil society to the cricket team; a Tableeghi fatwa is suspected to have prompted the murder of Bob Woolmer</b>.
Hyderabad, however, does not lend itself to such simplistic, black and white explanations. If the Old City is fertile ground for a Tableeghi-style hate campaign, it is because the incumbent groups - their political expression being the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen - have encouraged a ghettoisation of the city's Muslims and actively promoted an exclusivist agenda. As such the arrival of newer sects and votaries of Islamism has not followed the route of arcane theological debate, but deteriorated to the level of a political battle, street violence and, finally, terrorism during Friday prayers. It is fortunate that the death toll from the blast has not crossed the double-digit mark and that the police have managed to defuse two other bombs found inside the mosque complex. Yet, far from being grateful, the throng began to riot and attack the police, leading to firing and the killing of four protesters. <b>If the purpose of terrorists who masterminded Friday's blast was to provoke an extreme response from the residents of the area, they have succeeded</b>.
Two lessons can be drawn from the bloodlust in Hyderabad. <b>First, the idea of a sectarian war within Islam turning into catastrophic terrorism is no longer a remote West Asian nightmare, limited to Shia-Sunni clashes in Iraq</b>. After Hyderabad, it is natural to see the Malegoan blasts in Maharashtra a few months ago in similar light, despite the Union Home Minister's strange insistence that the two are unrelated. The upshot of this will be a more challenging internal security environment. <b>Second, the unilateral attack on the police is symptomatic of a growing tendency among the community's mobs to resort to "direct action". </b>A year ago, <b>the protests against the Danish cartoons led to agitated Muslims attacking Hindu-owned shops in Hyderabad and Lucknow</b>. The hapless shop-owners were as nonplussed as the police in Hyderabad this past Friday. These dual manifestations of Islamist instincts are made worse by a political leadership in denial. Instead of defending his police force, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister apologised for the firing and offered a CBI inquiry. His desire to quench the immediate fires is understandable. But did he really have to go this far?
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The Pioneer Edit Desk
Sectarian war first step to terrorism
At one level, last Friday's bomb blast in Hyderabad's Mecca Masjid is validation of the assertion that Muslims themselves are the biggest victims of the currents driving contemporary jihad. By all accounts, the act of terror that was executed in the Andhra Pradesh capital was not aimed at Hindus or any other group of 'infidels' but was the direct result of a sectarian crisis, a civil war almost, within the city's Muslims. The growing presence and influence of "<span style='color:red'>outsider" Tableeghi Jamaat preachers was objected to by the entrenched religio-political establishment and, somewhere along the way, led to an explosive clash. </span>It would be easy here to paint the Tableeghis as the villains, the puritanical Wahaabis out to shatter the city's supposed multicultural character. After all, the Tableeghi Jamaat is not new to such vitiation. <b>It was seen as responsible for the aggressive proselytisation in Gujarat, changing the character of Islam in parts of the State and leading to, ultimately, the tragedy at Godhra. In Pakistan, the Tableeghis are at the forefront of Islamisation of everything from civil society to the cricket team; a Tableeghi fatwa is suspected to have prompted the murder of Bob Woolmer</b>.
Hyderabad, however, does not lend itself to such simplistic, black and white explanations. If the Old City is fertile ground for a Tableeghi-style hate campaign, it is because the incumbent groups - their political expression being the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen - have encouraged a ghettoisation of the city's Muslims and actively promoted an exclusivist agenda. As such the arrival of newer sects and votaries of Islamism has not followed the route of arcane theological debate, but deteriorated to the level of a political battle, street violence and, finally, terrorism during Friday prayers. It is fortunate that the death toll from the blast has not crossed the double-digit mark and that the police have managed to defuse two other bombs found inside the mosque complex. Yet, far from being grateful, the throng began to riot and attack the police, leading to firing and the killing of four protesters. <b>If the purpose of terrorists who masterminded Friday's blast was to provoke an extreme response from the residents of the area, they have succeeded</b>.
Two lessons can be drawn from the bloodlust in Hyderabad. <b>First, the idea of a sectarian war within Islam turning into catastrophic terrorism is no longer a remote West Asian nightmare, limited to Shia-Sunni clashes in Iraq</b>. After Hyderabad, it is natural to see the Malegoan blasts in Maharashtra a few months ago in similar light, despite the Union Home Minister's strange insistence that the two are unrelated. The upshot of this will be a more challenging internal security environment. <b>Second, the unilateral attack on the police is symptomatic of a growing tendency among the community's mobs to resort to "direct action". </b>A year ago, <b>the protests against the Danish cartoons led to agitated Muslims attacking Hindu-owned shops in Hyderabad and Lucknow</b>. The hapless shop-owners were as nonplussed as the police in Hyderabad this past Friday. These dual manifestations of Islamist instincts are made worse by a political leadership in denial. Instead of defending his police force, the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister apologised for the firing and offered a CBI inquiry. His desire to quench the immediate fires is understandable. But did he really have to go this far?
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