Indian Muslims upset over UK terror links

Indian Muslims upset over UK terror links(IANS)6 July 2007
NEW DELHI — Muslims in India reacted yesterday with dismay, anger and disbelief over the arrest of three Indian doctors in the car bomb attack in Britain that has for the first time linked the community in this country to Al Qaeda.
Many of the young and the old in the country's largest minority said it was difficult for them to even accept that Indian Muslims could anyway be linked to any international terror plot.
“Indian doctors plotting mass murder? I find that extremely difficult to comprehend,” Kashmiri businessman Tamiiz Ahmad Dar told IANS, echoing a widely held view in the community that has until now scrupulously kept away from Al Qaeda and its terror network.
Indian Muslims have remained far away from Al Qaeda — a point that was noted globally.
Haris Beeran, 30 and a lawyer with the Supreme Court here, said that if the Indians were guilty, "it is most unfortunate thing to happen. I cannot accept it or justify it.
"I can still excuse a Pakistani or an Afghani indulging in radicalism because they are not getting any chance to mix with others," Beeran said. "I think when Indians go abroad, they get mixed up with radical groups. Naturally, they tend to get a different mindset."
Qasim Rasool Ilyas, convenor of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, admitted that it was the first time Indians were coming under suspicion. But he argued it would be wrong to tar the entire Indian Muslim community.
Politician and former diplomat Syed Shabuddin was blunt. "Of the 150 million Indian Muslims, if you find one or two odd ones, what is the big deal?" he asked with indignation. "And even these need to be tried and found guilty of actually committing the crime."
Shahid Siddiqui, an MP from the Samajwadi Party, voiced concern over the involvement of Indians in the terror plot.
"In the past too some people were detained on the basis of mere suspicion and let off for want of concrete evidence. But if actually some Indian Muslims are found to be involved, this is a serious cause of concern both for the Muslims and the nation as well because so far India has had a very good record."
Some Muslim leaders insisted that the arrests in Britain and Australia were a conspiracy against Islam.
Masum Muradabadi, editor of Khabardar Jadeed, an Urdu weekly from New Delhi, claimed there was an international campaign to paint "anyone wearing a skullcap and sporting a beard as a terrorist.
"At every international airport a Muslim is looked with suspicion and apprehension. This has become a big source of harassment of Muslims. This in turn creates resentment among good sections of Muslims. Muslims really don't know what to do... No human rights group is coming to help the Muslims."
Moulvi Mohammed Mouzzam Ahmed, the Naib Imam of Old Delhi's 16th century Fatehpuri mosque, was evasive about the Indian Muslim involvement, blaming it on all on the US and Jews."There is conspiracy to defame the Indian Muslim," he said.