“These Muslim invasions were not undertaken merely out of lust for loot or conquest. There was another object behind them. The expedition against Sind by Mahommad bin Qasim was of a punitive character and was undertaken to punish Raja Dahir of Sind who had refused to make restitution for the seizure of an Arab ship at Debul, one of the sea-port towns of Sind. But, there is no doubt that striking a blow at the idolatry and polytheism of Hindus and establishing Islam in India was also one of the aims of this expedition”. — Dr Babasaheb B R Ambedkar, Pakistan or Partition of India, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Writings and Speeches, Vol 8, p.55
Terrorism is discussed with usual clichés such as it has no religion, it is very difficult to define, and someone’s terrorist is a freedom fighter for others. Another logic that terrorist groups are non-state actors, hence beyond the control of nation-states, is perpetuated through international organisations. We are witnessing similar arguments when the inhuman killings of innocent Hindus were carried out by a Pakistan-sponsored terror group in Pahalgam of Jammu-Kashmir. When Hindu houses, mandirs and business establishments have been targeted in the name of protests in West Bengal by Islamists, similar justifications were given. Hindutva is a favourite punching bag for all secularists; hence, blaming Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have become popular excuses for the appeasers of radicalism. None of these arguments have provided a solution to address the menace of terrorism. Therefore, we need to ask the right questions to eradicate the cancer called terrorism.
What is the basic purpose of terrorism? All definitions and descriptions agree that terrorism is a political ideology, and the fundamental purpose of it is to instil a sense of terror in the minds of onlookers to achieve its defined objectives. Not just killing, but the terrorists are interested in more people watching and getting terrified by the spectacle. Then, the victims who develop a sense of fear and persecution in their minds, should decide the nature and root cause of terror. The recent acts of terror, both in Murshidabad of West Bengal and Pahalgam of J&K, give us a chance to correct the discourse on terrorism.
The protests of West Bengal in the name of opposing the Waqf Amendment Act had a pattern. Each of the victims is saying that their houses and business establishments were marked in advance and then targeted for being Hindus. Chief Minister of West Bengal, in her opposition avatar, used to question the ruling Communist regime about the unabated infiltration from Bangladesh and growing radicalism. From the pre-Partition period, occupying the territories to impose the intolerant ideology of Islamism – that believes in Kafirophobia – everyone who is not following the Puritan form of Islam is a Kafir and hence entitled to conversion or killing. Pakistan-supported Jammat has been successfully nurturing this ideology in Bangladesh since the second Partition of 1971 and being exported to West Bengal through infiltration. What is happening in Bangladesh or West Bengal, targetting Hindus is a continuation.
In the Pahalgam attack, whatever may be the secular narrative, the fact remains that victims were segregated based on religion, and only Hindus were killed after the Islamic way of verification. The only Muslim causality was collateral damage and not targeted killing. The decisive move of getting rid of Article 370 and 35A has resolved the longstanding issue of Constitutional integration, however that does not automatically solve the problem of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism based on Islamic radicalism. The integration and return of economic development in J&K certainly frustrated Pakistan. Hence, tourists were chosen as the soft targets. Despite Pakistan being diplomatically isolated and economically devastated, the Pahalgam attack has yet again underscored the challenge of continued infiltration from Pak-occupied territories coupled with intelligence gaps due to the local support. Dr BR Ambedkar had detected after meticulous research that hatred towards Hindus based on Kafirophobia is the root cause behind the idea of Pakistan. From the first invader, Bin Qasim, to present Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir, the same ideology has been the guiding force.
Throughout the world, the ideology of Kafirophobia is the root cause of terrorism, and Islamic radicalism is its face, as evident from the list of designated terrorist organisations. Whether Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists or even Muslims disagree with the radical interpretation of Islam, none of them have the right to exist according to this terrorist ideology. Hindus have survived the onslaught but suffered brutal conversions and Partition due to non-clarity about this ideological threat. The war is not just within Kashmir or against Pakistan; it is to defeat the inhuman ideology called Kafirophobia. Victims of Murshidabad and Pahalgam have identified the name and face of terrorism, the time is now ripe to intellectually take away the ‘secular cover’ provided to this anti-human dogma.
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