Bharatiya Muslim Sangh, a newly formed patriotic organisation of Indian Muslims, organised a seminar in Mumbai to condemn the terrorist activities in the country. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Satya Pal Singh, Inspector General of Police, Konkan range, described terrorism as an iceberg, whose only 1/10th part is visible. ?Its dangerous mass remains hidden beneath the surface. Similarly, the destructive aspect of terrorism is revealed only when the terror is let loose on earth killing hundreds of innocent peoples. When the terrorist mind unleashes its fury of destruction, the humanity cowers under its impact,? he said.
He further said no serious efforts are being made to root out terrorism from the country. ?Arresting and punishing terrorists is not enough to eradicate terrorism. As long as the terrorist mindset remains, the world will continue to suffer,? he added. He asked if politicians with different political ideologies can come together to form government on the basis of common minimum programmers, why can leaders of various religious faiths not come together and adopt a common minimum programme to wipe out terrorism?
Noted journalist Shri Muzaffar Hussain said Muslims should express their sense of gratitude to Hindustan, as it was here that the first translation of the Koran was published by Pandit Naval Kishore in Lucknow. As long as Muslims do not identify themselves with local Indian languages, they will not be able to effectively communicate their grievances to the countrymen. Those who believe Urdu as their mother tongue do not know that Urdu is the language, which was spoken and nurtured by Munshi Prem Chand, Pandit Brij Narayan and Pandit Ratan Sharshar. He exhorted Muslims to give up their insistence on identifying themselves with Arabic and Urdu as their languages and should accept local languages of their state as their own. He said if in the school textbooks, the knowledge of Hinduism and Islam is given to the students in the local languages, there will be no place for antipathy and hatred in the younger generation. Shri Riyazudin Moosa Sheikh, former education inspector, presided over the seminar.
