Contrasting approaches

What happened this past Saturday is unprecedented, and it has potential to immensely influence the socio-political future of South Asia. On Saturday morning, the Indian Supreme Court in a verdict allowed Hindus to build Ram temple on the site where once stood the Babri mosque. Since December 1949, the Hindutva mindset has been machinating to take over the mosque, which was built by Mughal Emperor Zaheer-ud-Din Babar in 1528. Some idols of Hindu gods were surreptitiously lodged in the mosque, which triggered a deal law placing some restrictions on Muslims in the name of defusing communal tension. And that had emboldened BJP stalwart LK Advani to lead yatra towards the Babri mosque and his foot soldiers turned the Mughal era architecture into rubble. Can Muslims rebuild the mosque on that site the Indian Supreme Court has said 'no' - its verdict being as biased as its action on various petitions filed against security lockdown and communications blackout in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir. The apex court seems to be drinking water from the Modi fountain. "The unanimous judgement on the masjid-mandir dispute by India's Supreme Court on Saturday could readily mutate into a legal basis to build a theocratic state on the rubble of India's 72-year-old democracy," says a columnist. The same day, a few hours later, Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan warmly welcomed hundreds of Sikh pilgrims who reached Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur by buses from India. Among the pilgrims was former prime minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh and many other eminent political and social personalities, including Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh (retd) and Bollywood superstar Sunny Deol. Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, he said time is ripe to end hatred between Pakistan and India - that, perhaps, is too much of wishful thinking.

Under Narendra Modi, India is going to be a theocracy where Muslims will have no place. Putting up his presence on the other side of Kartarpur corridor on Saturday was a mere eyewash. His followers have identified two more mosques in Mathura and Varanasi they claim were built by destroying Hindu temples. Not only does his Hindutva brigade want to demolish mosques, it is also on rampage to rename everything, be it a building or street, which carries a Muslim name. But renaming of structures is only a small fraction of its agenda to completely cleanse India of its Muslim population. In Assam, some four million members of Muslim community face the prospect of statelessness. In Occupied Kashmir, some eight million Muslims face genocidal threat. As against Narendra Modi's agenda of rewriting the past, Pakistan is fast shedding its image as a theocracy. Over the last few years, a whole host of new laws have been enacted to ensure that minorities not only feel safe and secure but also enjoy full religious freedom. After the Kartarpur corridor the government is set about resorting the grace and grandeur of about 40 sites which are sacred to Hindus.

Pakistan has no intention to storm India and protect Muslims, who happen to be the daily diet of mob attacks. But it should not be expected to remain unconcerned from what happens to Muslims in India. Should India persevere in its anti-Muslim campaign, it would be problematic for the government in Pakistan to hold in check people's anger against India. And, for wider world also the concern should be the gross discrimination the Indian Muslims face on a daily basis. Also, their plight calls for attention by the United Nations and human rights organisations within India and elsewhere. Agreed, business interests and geostrategic considerations prohibit foreign governments from lifting a finger against India. But they should know that their silence earns them censure of the world at large. For them the Archbishop Desmond Tutu has the message "If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor".