Author:
Publication: The Free
Press Journal
Date: November 19, 2000
Barely a month after
the controversial October 3 visit to India by a three-member delegation
of the Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) and earlier statements by the party's
supremo, Altaf Hussain, the party secretary general, Dr Imran Farooq, has
stoked the flames again by describing "Ram" as a great name in the history
of world religions.
The Mohajir leader made
his remarks on November 8 while addressing the party's study circle meeting
at its international secretariat in London. The topic of the meeting
was "Religions of the World and its Comparative Studies".
To a question as to how
one can define the character of "Ram," which appears in the drama serial
"Ramayan", currently being televised on India's Zee Television, Dr Imran
is reported to have said that "Ram" was a great name in the history of
the religions of the world.
The MQM has, in fact,
hosted details of Dr Imran's lecture on the party's official website.
Dr. Imran reportedly said that one could learn more about the qualities,
reverence and personality of Ram from the famous Urdu poem by Allama Iqbal,
captioned "Ram". An outcry has, however, begun in Pakistan among
the conservatings, condemning Imran.
Quoting an unidentified
analyst, Pakistani weekly "The Friday Times" says" "Ram is a great name
in the Hindu religion. That is what Iqbal's poem also celebrates.
However, it is a fact that Ram is a mythical figure. The name also
evokes bitter memories of 1992 when Hindu mobs in Ayodhya razed the Babri
Mosque to the ground to build a temple for Ram. Therefore, one can
read meanings into Imran Farooq's mention of Ram. Why he has chosen
to do that and what are his motives behind referring to the figure at this
point in time. But it serves no purpose really. Therefore,
the government would do good to stay away from all this,"
The weekly says those,
familiar with the Muttahida's politics view Dr Imran's November 8 lecture
in the backdrop of a recent visit to India by a three-member MQM delegation
which received genrous attention from the Indian media. Headed by
Muhammad Anwer, the party's chief organiser in the United Kingdom, the
delegation members openly accused Pakistan army of sponsoring religious
extremists in a desperate attempt to contain the MQM and other regional
forces in the country.
During their India visit,
the Mutahidda leaders, including the party's deputy convener and former
federal minister, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, had cautioned India and other
neighbours of Pakistan against the consequences of a probable takeover
of the nuclear weapons by religious fundamentalists groups.
"An unstructured Pakistan
with its nuclear capability and the nuclear button in the hands of Punjabi
extremists (with the fervour of jihad) would not even take a second to
push the nuclear button in desperation," Siddiqui had said. The delegation
members had claimed that over 70 per cent of Pakistan army was influenced
by religious extremists.
"All over their barracks,
you can see jihadi slogans like 'jihad fi sabi lillah' (we shall win the
holy war), written on their walls,' Siddiqui had said in one of the addresses
in Delhi.
It may be mentioned here
that MQM supremo Altaf Hussain had raked up a controversy criticising the
two-nation theory in London's Acton Hall as he had departed from his usual
Urdu to declare in slow, measured English. "The division of the Indian
subcontinent was the biggest blunder in the history of mankind."