Our reply to democracy, grenade and blast

Our reply to democracy, grenade and blast: Mujahidin-e-Taiba
Posted by: "Yogesh Saxena" yogrekha@gmail.com yogrekha
Sat Feb 7, 2009 12:52 pm (PST)
Our reply to democracy, grenade and blast
To the faith of the believer of Islam , therefore, has been added a
compulsion -- to prove itself again.
"Death is just an insignificant word for them," begins the report
in News of 28 November, 1997 on the annual gathering of the
Mujahidin-e-Taiba. "Killing those who do not share their set of
Islamic values is the only reality. The congregation was flooded with
thousands of people with these beliefs..." "And the massive gathering
of people delivered one message loud and clear," the paper
reports, "there is no dearth of manpower in Pakistan for the fanatic
forces to indoctrinate. 'If I die fighting, I will be greeted in
heaven by Allah who will smile upon me,' said a 20-year old mujahid
from Okra." The paper reproduces at length the views and exhortations
of "Professor" Saeed who heads the organization which is conducting
the congregation, the Jamaat Dawa-wal-Ishad. He conveys a simple
message, it says : "It was God who had ordered the establishment of
the law of Islam everywhere in the world." He calls for a jehad, says
the paper, for ending the democratic system in Pakistan and turning
it into "a pure Islamic State governed by strict Shariat laws." At
the congregation he rejects democracy, proclaiming, "the notion of
the sovereignty of the people is un-Islamic -- only Allah is
sovereign." [That has been the provision in each of Pakistan's three
Constitutions since the Objectives Resolution was passed in 1949.]
And these notions have been well internalized by the congregation,
the paper reports : "The whole place was full of signboards with
slogans like 'Jamhooriat ka jawab, grenade and blast." (Our reply to
democracy, grenade and blast). "The Dawa chief said his
organization's main interest in Pakistan was to pick people and train
them to wage jehad in countries wherever an un-Islamic government was
in power," the paper says. "God has ordained every Muslim to fight
until his rule is established," he declared. "We have no option but
to follow God's order." stoke terrorism, sending army regulars,
spreading fabrications at every international gathering -- it
pictures to itself as jihad, as a religious undertaking, indeed as an
Allah- ordained duty. Concocting lies then becomes a device for
discharging that duty. "War is stratagem," the Prophet has said, "War
is deceit." [Sahih Muslim, Volume III, pp. 945, 990-91; Sahih al-
Bukhari, Volume IV, pp. 166-67; Sunan Abu Dawud, Volume II, p. 728]
Thus one may lie, one may kill the enemy while he is asleep, one may
kill him by tricking him. [For instance, Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume IV,
pp. 164-65, That is one problem: for the man or force weaned on
jihad, the concoctions are an intrinsic part of the struggle he is
waging, for him the fact that the war he is waging is Allah-ordained
is a complete justification for cruelty, for lies and the rest; on
our side, we don't just shut our eyes to the concoctions that result
from it, we shut our eyes even more tightly to the Ideology of which
they are but the result. Belief makes one not just blind, it makes
one reckless. A teenage Muslim girl was killed by her parents last
night and her body chopped into pieces because she dared to elope and
marry the man she loved. Mohsina Akhtar's murder came to light when
Muzaffarnagar police stopped three persons carrying a huge gunny bag.
Inside were pieces of the 18-year-old's body and a chopper and an axe
used in the "honour killing".
Superintendent of police (rural) Lucknow , sri Arvind Pandey said the
three Mohsina's mother Iqbal Jehan, maternal uncle Kallu Mohsin and
brother Mohsin - confessed they were on their way to dump the pieces
in a canal near Lalauna, the west Uttar Pradesh village where Mohsina
was murdered.
Iqbal told him it was the body of a "shaitan" (devil). "Yeh shaitan
meri beti thi. Humne unko maar dala (This devil was my daughter. We
have killed her)." "All three admitted that they killed Mohsina
because she loved a Muslim boy from a neighbouring village and
married him after eloping a month back," the officer said. "I have
handled many such incidents of honour killing but this was one of the
most gruesome." Police sources said the girl's father, Mohammad
Akhtar, who hasn't been arrested, will be questioned tomorrow. Senior
superintendent of police Sushil Kumar said Iqbal, who has another
daughter, didn't betray any remorse. "When they were produced in
court today, she was silent, as were Kallu and Mohsin. Iqbal said she
had to kill her. She said she was not feeling good after the murder
but has no regrets," the SSP added. Residents said one reason for the
lack of regret is the increasing social recognition such honour
killings - common in the northwest frontier region of Pakistan - are
getting in western Uttar Pradesh. "Villagers often pool money to bear
the legal expenses of a family that kills a wayward daughter," said a
resident of adjoining Baghpat. "An elopement makes it difficult for a
family to get a match for other daughters," said Rajiv Soni, a social
worker. According to police files, 23 cases of honour killings have
been reported in the Baghpat-Muzaffarnagar-Saharanpur-Bijnor region
since 2006, including six this year in Muslim families. Yesterday, a
woman who had been forced into marriage was shot dead by her brother
for refusing to go to her marital home. "I suspect hardcore
fundamentalist elements are encouraging these incidents," said
Shaista Amber, a member of the All India Muslim Women's Personal Law
Board. Mohsina had fallen in love with Mukhtar Mahmud, 20, a resident
of Bilaspur, a village about 2km from her home. The family had
recently shifted to Lalauna, where Mohsina's maternal uncles live,
and found that neighbours knew about the affair. Her uncle Kallu told
the police that the family tried to stop her as society frowns upon
such relationships. But Mohsina and Mukhtar eloped and got married
last month. Soon, the whispers "inki ladki bhaag gai hai" - got
louder. The family's instant reaction was fear of social ostracism.
Iqbal had to marry off another daughter. So Mohsina had to be killed.
Unconfirmed reports said a small group of elderly residents also
ruled that Mohsina should be killed to protect the family's honour.
The young couple made the mistake of returning home last week. Last
night, Mohsina was hanged from a ceiling fan of a room in her
maternal uncles' house. Her body was then taken to a cattle shed
where it was cut into pieces. The lesson he internalises is that
Allah shall always come to the aid of believers, that the side of
Allah shall prevail. So all one has to do is leap. The belief having
been drilled into him that he is doing Allah's Will -- or, as in
Marxism-Leninism, of History – the believer just cannot believe that
the fault may lie with him. As the war he is waging has been ordained
by Allah, the one who is opposing him must, by definition, be doing
so for some perverse reason, for some ulterior purpose.