Author:
Publication: Deccan Chronicle
Date: November 1, 2002
Prominent Muslims in Delhi were
targeted by the Americans for an exhaustive discussion on issues ranging
from US foreign policy to terrorism with the visiting Director of the Policy
Planning Staff in the US State Department, Richard Haass, at the residence
of US ambassador to India Robert D Blackwill.
Several of those invited questioned
US policy towards the Islamic world, making it clear that the Americans
had fostered terrorism in the past and even today were strong supporters
of dictatorships and authoritarian regimes.
The meeting did not elicit a murmur
of protest from the Indian foreign office although a former diplomat pointed
out that a parallel could be found if the Indian embassy organised an exclusive
meeting of Black leaders in Washington for a visiting Indian dignitary.
As he said, "This would immediately
evoke a strong protest from the US administration that would accuse us
of meddling in internal issues even if on our part we did not touch domestic
politics." Even Saudi Arabia, he added, did not organise exclusively Muslim
meetings in secular India.
The Muslim leaders invited were
not given an explanation for the interaction but instead encouraged to
hold forth on why Indian Muslims were not enamoured of terrorism, what
they felt about US foreign policy, what was their reaction to the war against
terrorism, their views about the government's policies on Gujarat and other
issues.
The group was carefully selected
by the US embassy here and included Lok Janshakti leader Arif Mohammad
Khan, Samajwadi leader Shahid Siddiqui, who is also a journalist, Congress
leader M Afzal, chancellor of Jamia Hamdard Syed Hamid, journalist Zafar
Agha, parliamentarian Rehman Khan and a few others.
Haass and Blackwill in a limited
intervention sought to convince those present that the US had been very
supportive of Muslim interests in Bosnia, Palestine and other parts of
the world, leading one participant to observe, "They singled out Muslims
as if we are a people apart."
A prominent invitee touched a distinctly
raw nerve and even led US ambassador Robert Blackwill to voice a protest
about his observations.
This particular gentleman opened
his remarks with a reference to Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice,
saying that in the book the prejudice was attributed to the heroine and
the pride to the hero.
He then went on to say, "Your President
(George W Bush) combines both these attributes although in his case pride
has taken the shape of arrogance and prejudice the shape of rancour." He
also went on to speak at length of the US role in the Muslim world, his
remarks not being particularly favourable for the listening US ambassadors.
Blackwill, who is not known for
his ability to absorb criticism even after inviting it, protested strongly.
Those present at the meeting recall him as saying, "We are an open society
but we are not used to the kind of language used against my President here.
I deeply resent it."
The person to whom these remarks
were addressed did not apologise, as perhaps he was expected to, with others
admitting that he was asked for his views and gave these honestly.
The impression that Indian Muslims
would be enamoured of the US policies was dispelled fairly effectively
by some of the participants. Another invitee contradicted the view that
the Sufi influence was responsible for keeping the Indian Muslim away from
terrorism.
He made it clear that terrorism
had no place in Islamic culture even as he pointed out that the argument
over stating the role of the Sufi movement gave the impression that the
other form of Islam sanctions terrorism
