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| India-Pakistan |
| Indian muslim town seething with anger |
| 2006-09-09 |
| The BBC's Zubair Ahmed visits the city of Malegaon in India a day after it was hit by bomb attacks to find residents seething with anger. "What goes around comes around," said a local police officer. The tongue-in-cheek remark was meant to be an off-the-record comment. But that just summed up the reputation of Malegaon, a dusty town of 700,000 people, two-thirds of them Muslims, in the eyes of officials, who often brand it as a hotbed of support for home-grown as well international Islamic militant organisations. Indeed its reputation was not helped when a large cache of arms and ammunition was seized from men who were born and raised here a few weeks before the Mumbai bomb blasts two months ago. The town, home to a large number of Muslim weavers, has been officially declared sensitive by the Maharashtra state police chief, P.S. Pasricha. But this is a tag vehemently resented by local Muslims. A local weaver Nayeemuddin said: "If we were volatile, there would have been retaliation by us. But we have been very peaceful, despite a heavy loss of lives." But some of them did turn violent. When the two bombs went off in the town soon after Friday prayers, they expressed their resentment by attacking policemen and their vehicles soon after the bomb blasts. ust before I reached Malegaon, I was told that many parts of the town were under a curfew. I arrived just before midnight, wondering who on earth would be awake to talk to me around that time. I also imagined the town would look deserted because of the curfew. But to my astonishment there were more people on the roads than on a normal day. Regardless of the curfew, men dressed in traditional Muslim attire were roaming the streets, wondering why their town was attacked by militants. Hundreds of men were trying to escort journalists to the scenes of bombings. Many of them sounded really shaken. Manzoor Ilahi was fuming. "Malegaon has always been accused of harbouring Islamic terrorists. Now tell me, why would we be attacked on a day which is so pious in Islam?" Dozens of people joined him in support. A man from the crowd summed up the general feelings: "The day and time were carefully chosen to maximise the casualty. It could not have been done by Islamic terrorists." Maharashtra state's deputy chief minister, R.R. Patil, in an interview with the BBC, praised the overall patience displayed by local Muslims. He also said he disapproved of the "sensitive" tag. Mr Patil, who was the first high-ranking minister to rush to Malegaon, said it was still unclear who could have triggered these bombs. But he had a view on the possible motive of the attackers: "The time and place of attack suggest the bombings were carried out to create tensions between Hindus and Muslims." However, he was unable to throw light on the possible link between the serial bomb blasts on commuter trains in Mumbai in which more than 180 people were killed and the latest bombings in Malegaon. Just a few days before the latest blasts, India's prime minister had warned a meeting of all state chief ministers that more attacks were imminent. Should Mr Patil accept a lapse on the part of his administration? His candid answer was that the attackers successfully played the game of one-upmanship. "We had made appropriate security arrangements for the graveyard, where Muslims had to visit on the night. The arrangements were to take effect from 1700. But terrorists surprised us by exploding bombs soon after Friday prayers in the early afternoon." But he added that watertight security was impossible. "Despite heavy security arrangements in New York and London, they were attacked. Yes, we have to be on our toes, but 100% security cannot be guaranteed." 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. |
| Posted by:john |
| #9 hehehe.... Barbara, consult the book of Armaments. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-09-09 21:11 |
| #8 "Why MalegaonÂ’s flashpoints have always been Fridays" Because they use Holy Hand Grenades and Explosives™ for their bombings? |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-09-09 20:13 |
| #7 Why MalegaonÂ’s flashpoints have always been Fridays Funny thing, when I was doing Intifada#1, we also had riots every Friday. I wonder, what Malegaon and Bethlehem have in common? |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-09-09 19:59 |
| #6 "What goes around comes around," said a local police officer. Shabash! |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-09-09 19:57 |
| #5 The dominant question being; Will this spate of attacks inspire the Muslims of Malegaon to unify in vociferous opposition to all use of terrorism? [crickets] Then I say, "Carry on, Hindus of India." |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-09-09 19:09 |
| #4 It's like a Mad Lib: [Country, possessive] Muslim [Geographic Area] Seething With Anger Insert any country, any size geographical area: "Thai Muslim Province Seething With Anger" "Detroit's Muslim Neighborhoods Seething With Anger" |
| Posted by: Rob Crawford 2006-09-09 16:50 |
| #3 The town...has been officially declared sensitive by the Maharashtra state police chief Sensitive? Who the hell you callin' sensitive! You call me sensitive again and you'll be a head shorter. HMMMPH. Sensitive! The very idea! |
| Posted by: GK 2006-09-09 14:45 |
| #2 Why Malegaon’s flashpoints have always been Fridays If there is one reason why the Centre rushed in forces to Malegaon just hours after the blasts, it is the textile town’s history. Five years ago, a month after 9/11, this predominantly Muslim town saw five days of riots. The toll at the end of it: 13, 12 of them Muslims, most killed in police firing. Reasons for the riots, which periodically visited this textile town of about 7 lakh people, ranged from an India-Pak cricket match to a pamphlet. Since three-quarters of the population is Muslim, Friday is when the powerlooms close for the weekly day off and the two lakh-odd workers go for the namaz. Hence, anyone interested in making an impact here waits for Fridays. Most public meetings are held on this day. No surprise, then, that the town was torn by blasts on a Friday again. The last time the town witnessed communal riots was in October 2001 (on a Friday again) in which 13 were killed. The reason, as revealed by the state minorities commission later, was the desperation of an ageing local politician, Nihal Ahmed Maulavi Mohammed Usman, then 75, state leader of the Janata Dal (Secular). On October 26, a policeman tried to snatch a pamphlet being distributed by a youth outside the town’s Jama Masjid after the Friday namaz. The pamphlet was an appeal to boycott American and British goods to protest against the US attack on Afghanistan. But when the youth refused to let the policeman see what was on the paper, a scuffle ensued and flared up into a fight between the police and Muslims. Angry youths threw stones, provoking the police to open fire. The incident also invited prompt retaliation in Hindu areas, giving it a communal turn. The incident actually had roots in an agitation in the town exactly a week earlier. On October 19, Nihal Ahmed had taken out a morcha to protest against the US attack on Afghanistan. The protesters carried portraits of Osama bin Laden and shouted anti-US slogans. The town was very tense and needed just a spark. Nihal Ahmed’s gesture was a desperate attempt to consolidate his position in the town of which he was the only patriarch: He had been elected as MLA six times since 1967, but had to suffer defeat at the hands of his Congress rival Shaikh Rashid in 1999. The riots spread to 133 villages on the outskirts of Malegaon and to towns like Deola, Satana and Kalwan, where Muslims were targeted by the Hindu majority. Subsequently, the government upgraded the Malegaon municipal council — controlled by Nihal’s party, with his wife Sajeda being the president — to a corporation and the first elections were held in May 2002. The JD (S) emerged as the single largest party winning 35 of the 72 seats and Nihal became the town’s first Mayor. But his party broke up in the civic body the next year and, to make matters worse for him, he was again defeated in the 2004 Assembly polls by Rashid. Elections for the Malegaon Municipal Corporation (MMC) is scheduled in the next four months. |
| Posted by: john 2006-09-09 13:02 |
| #1 This town was created after the 1857 mutiny. Thousands of muslim families were deported by the British from their homes in UP and Bihar provinces as punishment for the role of their relatives in the mutiny. |
| Posted by: john 2006-09-09 12:56 |