I decry Shahi Imam's call for jehad

i see the world getting polarised into two distinct camps — the 'civilised'western world and the 'barbaric' islamic world. in india, this view is fuelled by utterances of rabid fundamentalists like the shahi imam who with their irresponsible and inflammatory utterances perpetuate the stereotype. i decry in the strongest terms possible the shahi imam's call for jehad.'jehad' means the struggle against evil. the first jehad needs to be waged against the evil in oneself. it is not justified in osama bin laden's call because the taliban has violated all principles of islam in the way it has mutilated women and perpetrated human rights violations. the media plays up the provocative utterances of the fundamentalists; the moderate's voice doesn't fit the stereotype - it doesn't make good copy. it makes me suspect that perhaps there is a design in the invisibility accorded to the moderate muslim's voice. i can give hundreds of examples. in early january 1993, even as muslims were being butchered in the riots after the babri masjid's demolition - the shahi imam, true to his nature, issued a fatwa that all muslims should boycott republic day in protest. it made headlines in all newspapers. we realised this would really damage muslims and that something needed to be done to prove that the imam had no real following in the community. my husband javed akhtar and javed anand got 9,000 signatures in one day from the very muslims who had been brutalised during the riots in areas such as behrampada, stating that they rejected the imam's call because to do so would mean the abdication of their rights as citizens. by 5 pm the same day, the statement was issued to all leading newspapers in every language. not one single paper published it! what explanation can there possibly be? the likes of the imam are given legitimacy not by the people but by the media and the political leadership. over the years, every time a muslim issue needs to be addressed, political leaders consult the rabid rabble rousers, never the moderates. they are culpable as \well. terrorism troubles terrorism is terrorism is terrorism. terrorism cannot be condoned. we know this better than anybody else because we have been suffering at its hands since 1989. the terrorism in kashmir is not jehad. let's not compare kashmir with palestine. what we see in kashmir today is not a freedom struggle but pakistan-sponsored terrorism. three lakh kashmiri pandits have been forced to leave the land of their birth and are languishing in refugee camps. what is their fault? pakistan, helped ably by fundamentalists here, is trying to communalise the kashmir issue and we must not fall into its trap. pakistan can't play this game, that on the one hand it will fight terrorism with the us and on the other it will support a 'freedom struggle'. by actions like these, pakistan is constantly jeopardising indian muslims.