More on this story. “Mufti asks PM to reassure Muslims of dignity,” from The Hindu, September 26:
Srinagar (PTI): People’s Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Friday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take lead in reaching out to the Muslims of the country in order to reassure them of dignity and fair application of legal and constitutional safeguards.
“The prime minister must take a lead in reaching out to Muslim masses in order to reassure them of dignity and fair application of legal and constitutional safeguards. And, all right-thinking, secular and democratic forces must join this campaign without reservations,” Sayeed said in a statement here.
Commenting on the serial bomb blasts in parts of the country, Jamia Nagar encounter and Nanavati Commission report, Sayeed said the recent events and their aftermath call for immediate intervention to avert a collision of communities in the country.
“We can’t fill the jails of the country with young and educated Muslims in the hope of freeing the country of terror,” the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Easy solution: “young and educated Muslims” should renounce terror and thereby avoid being imprisoned.
Sayeed said the chain of investigations have unfortunately resulted in casting a shadow on the entire Muslim community of the country. Nobody needs to point out the dangers and pitfalls in allowing this impression to grow, he observed…
Yes, things like 1,000 Muslims surrounding a train full of trapped Hindus, hollering “Set the train on fire and kill the Hindus,” while a nearby mosque goads them on, tend to cast “a shadow on the entire Muslim community of the country.”