"Breeding grounds for suicide bombers," from Tavleen Singh in Indian Express:
With Ayodhya on my mind I sat down to write a piece on how Islamic terrorism will not be defeated until we deal with the mullahs and madrasas who breed the suicide bombers and Islamic fundamentalists. I was still writing it when London exploded. This was not some distant horror but deeply personal since I have a son who lives in that city. He could have been on the bus, on the underground or just walking down a street. When I tried desperately to call him I found it impossible to get through and thought of all the others who might be trying as desperately to call a loved one and those who may have lost sons, brothers, sisters, parents, friends just because Islamic fundamentalists believe terrorism is their sacred duty.Tony Blair called the acts of terrorism in London ''barbaric'' and said that the terrorists would not succeed because the civilised world was more determined to defend ''our values and our way of life'' than the terrorists are to cause death and destruction. But, they will succeed because no Western leaders and certainly not our own ''secular'' lot have shown any determination when it comes to dealing with the mullahs and the venomous ideology they preach through Islamic seminaries...
The Prophet's mission, as interpreted by the mullahs, also involves converting us infidels to the faith because otherwise we are a constant threat to Islam. This is where the problem begins.
If the mullahs used the religious seminaries to teach love and peace and respect for other people and religions, Muslims would find it easier to live with the rest of the world. But, they teach jehad and bigotry and it is from these teachings that Islamic terrorism is born. In India, if we want to tackle the problem we could begin by demanding a White Paper from the government on how many madrasas exist on our secular soil, when they were
built and where they get their funds from. I am willing to bet that most have come up in the past 15 years and that the money comes from the same Middle Eastern countries that funded last week's bombings in London and 9/11. As long as we pretend that this is not true we remain in danger of losing the war against terrorism.
Yep.
In India they can say this...
Don't forget, as Hugh often likes to point out , that 'they' in India have suffered genocide running into some 60-70 million casualities in the wars against the (mercifully failed) islamization of India.
But apart, from that, India's press seems to take its cue from the allegedly more reputable amongst the western press elite (read, the NYT, WaPo etc). Its difficult to find unequivocal condemnation of islamist support among mainstream mullahs even in India.
But at least they can strike out against Pakistan and its madrassas and its islamization and its persecution of nonmuslims and its repeated attempts at igniting hundu-muslim riots in India....
This columnist though is more of an exception, than the norm. Sometimes, she makes a point like none other in India.
Actually, in India you cannot speak the truth like she does, nor can you do this in the Indian communtiy abroad or else you are called a Hindu fanatic, which is pretty ridiculous since you are not spewing out any lies against muslims, simply stating facts.
Now about Tavleen, she is interesting, I became a fan of hers during my undergraduate years studying for my B.Sc. Honours degree. At the time she was writing for the magazine India Today (India's equivalent of TIME), and even then she spewed fire and truth like no other, whether it was about the Indian educational system teaching lies and covering up the crimes muslims committed against India or the corruption found in our Pseudo-secular government.
One day while I was living in India as a visiting medical doctor for relief work, the articles stopped in India Today. I was shattered since here was someone who was speaking the truth and suddenly *poof* she's gone.
Anyways she resurfaced and spewed again. Gotta love her.
Now who is she? What I know is this, she is Sikh, educated in a convent school in the Dehra Dun/Mussoorie area (one of the most beautiful and very militant Hindu areas of India). While she was in England she fell in love with a Pakistani Muslim (from what I recall reading), they had a son, they split up etc etc etc. I recall reading an article that her son was marrying a cousin of the British royal family.
Of course, don't take my word for it, I am just trying to recall what I can remember, but I do recall the Pakistani Muslim thing since when I read it I was shocked saying to myself "What the F***?" If he was a any other faith it wouldn't have meant anything to me, but muslim? "Holy Mother of God!" is what ran through my maind.
Anyhow, whatever her personal life, who cares, the point is she is very well educated and has guts, since in India it is a crime to speak the truth. God bless her.
-Ayo Gorkhali
Comment by one Anwar Shaikh, on the Indian express page where Tavleen's article appears.
Hmmm. Looks like another munafiq/ near-murtad-din like me!