SEEMINGLY
INDELIBLE, THE SCAR ON MUSLIM PRIDE IS NOW HEALING
6 Dec 2012 Hindustan Times (Lucknow) M Tariq Khan letters@hindustantimes.com
M Tariq Khan
LUCKNOW: The scars on the Muslim psyche inflicted on December 6, 1992 seem to be healing. And the reason is a general consensus on not passing on the bitter legacy of conflict and hatred to a whole new generation that has grown up blissfully unaware of this “communal aberration” two decades ago.
“Just like the country’s partition, this (Babri mosque demolition) unsavory incident, too, is best left forgotten. In a secular country like ours, we should take care not to remind our youth about issues that can fuel communal passions,” says Professor Mohd Muzammil, vice-chancellor of MJP Rohilkhand University.
“I lost my relatives in the riots that broke out after the demolition. I must have been around four or five years old then. But I have stopped taking interest in the issue and I think it’s about time we moved on and focused our energies on more constructive issues,” says Samina Bano, an IIM-Bangalore graduate.
“Muslims are gradually trying to overcome the tragedy. And an indication of this positive change is the fact that Ayodhya dispute no longer figures in the sermons or religious gatherings of Muslims. It did not find a mention even in a recent event here in Lucknow that was attended by the chief priest of Holy Shrine of Kabah,” points out Colonel (retired) Mohsin J Shamsi.
Sure enough, these views have found an echo with the Muslim clergy, too. “Peace and communal harmony comes foremost and has to be upheld at all cost,” says a young Maulana Khalid Rasheed Farangi Mahli, president of Lucknow-based Islamic Centre of India. But he hastens to add that both the parties to the dispute should wait for the final Supreme Court verdict.
Social activist Saleem Baig from Moradabad, however, feels that the demolition has driven a wedge between the two communities because of which members of the minority community often find themselves at the receiving end and are subjected to a second-class citizen treatment.
