TERRORISM HAS NO RELIGION?

"TERRORISM HAS NO RELIGION ! ", THEY SAY, MY HEART CRIES !

"Hey Listen!! How many times will you tell me this? I have heard this nth times", my mind snapped quickly to me when I read that Amir Khan, after Terrorist strikes in Bangla Desh, had quipped that Terrorists have no religion. Newspapers headline it; TV channels blare about it; Celebrities blabber this and politicians, undoubtedly, the world over keep singing this chart buster. My ears are blasting with this noise and my eyes are blinding over reading this time and again.

We must know that tell-tale marks of modern terrorism do not say this. There are definite signatures of religion on each incident of terrorism. Let us not cheat ourselves. It is time to recognize that religious hatred was the mother of modern terrorism. When Sikhs were butchered in 1984, all over India, it was religious hated and certainly organized terrorism. In fact killing of Indra Gandhi, Indian Prime Minister itself was basically by men motivated by religious zeal.

When Bhindrawale goons in the Punjab of 1980s, massacred Hindus, it was undoubtedly religious terrorism. They did not even spare Children and women. Hindus were pulled out of buses and killed, though , it later engulfed Sikhs too. How do you say that displacement of Kashmiri Pundits is not the act of Islamic terrorism? Such self blinding statements only encourage terrorists. Listen friends! Let us not fool ourselves but acknowledge that religion was writ large on the vast canvas of terrorism. Once we recognize this, then only a solution would be found.

What happened in Bangladesh in the first week of July 2016 is a testimony of religious terrorism. No doubts, modern Islam is responsible for most acts of terrorism , the world over, but it is not alone. All other religions are its partners in this crime. It is religious one-upmanship and invoking of a feeling of superiority amongst the followers that religious terrorism takes birth. It is futile to chant : Terrorists has no religion. They certainly do have where people like Zakir Naik, Hafeez Sayyed , Azhar Masood roam the streets freely.

Mumbai riots in 1991-92, were the results of Religious hatred. Gujarat riots in 2002, though as a reaction to Godhra Train incident, were certainly caused by religious hatred and focused against one community. Similar thing had happened during Anti- Sikh riots in 1984. Paris bombing was as bad as Oslo shooting , some years back.

"Islamophobia" in Europe might be an over reaction but it is recognition of "Islamic Terrorism", whether it was late Osama Bil Laden 's Al - Quaida or Abu- bakr- Baghdadi's ISIS. But one fact emerges out of my study of terrorism over the last 35 years. Internal and external politics is the cause of religious terrorism. Rise and fall of JS Bhindrawale ; Rise and fall of Osama Bin Laden and even the rise of Abu Bakr Baghdadi has politics behind all such creations. Politics of Congress in Punjab in the 1970s created Bhindrawale to check Akali Dal but it backfired on it. Pakistan , during Benazir Bhutto regime in the 1990s, created Taliban and it is devouring Pakistan today. In spite of such lessons of the past, Congress leaders like Dig Vijay Singh are reportedly courting religious preachers like Zakir Naik's , who inspired some Bangla Deshi youths for Terrorist acts in July 2016.

What is the answer to religious terrorism? How can it be countered? The answer is simple and straight, religion must become a private affair, it must not enjoy state- patronization anywhere in the world. Islam- predominant countries, some 57 of them , have to march into the 21st Century and delink this baggage of the seventh Century. They have to shed the "Absolutism philosophy" of Islam. In short , religion and statecraft have to be separated. In fact, they have to understand that religion does not unite but divides them. Iran- Iraq war of ten years; Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1991; Saudi Arabia versus Iran incessant rivalry and also separation of Bangla Desh from Pakistan in 1971 speak of this historical observations. Two world wars of 20th Century, mostly by Christian nations, highlights the fact that religion can never unite people. Instead, it can only unleash havoc on people, if pursued rigorously.