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Recently my wife's mobile went dead. When we contacted the service provider we were told that in view of recent national events (read the Mumbai blasts) the company was re-seeking addresses and ID proofs of its customers.

`Randomly picked' Following this we went to a nearby service centre with all the necessary documents. To my utter surprise, I found that four of the five customers present there to seek evaluation of their IDs were Muslims. On questioning the desk officer, I was told that all those who were present were randomly picked. This was an answer with which I am quite acquainted, not as an Indian but as a Muslim. I have been "randomly picked" for baggage checks at Heathrow, JFK and O'Hare to name a few.

But my "random checking" in my own motherland came as a rude shock. My being a Muslim overshadowed my identity as an Indian. My wife and I have undergone similar scrutiny of suspicion when we were looking for accommodation outside our hospital premises on our arrival in Delhi. Most prospective landlords would apologise for not letting their property the moment we revealed our identities as Muslims and not merely doctors working in government hospitals of repute. We passed off these acts as natural counter reactions of naïve minds. But ethnic scrutiny of IDs by reputed mobile companies in a democratic set-up amounts to a violation of fundamental rights if not anything else.

It is in fact hard to be a Muslim in the present world, but being scrutinised in one's own country on the suspicion of being a terrorist is a matter of grave concern.

Recent world events have proved beyond doubt the need for greater and meaningful security checks at places of strategic importance including airports, aircraft, railway stations, etc. But it does not give a blanket cover to include all those who belong to a sect or religious group merely because of their names, looks or practices. At least in India, where a multitude of cultural and religious beliefs entwine, there is a need for greater caution in labelling people belonging to specific religious groups as terrorists.

Different from others I would like to draw attention to the fact that Indian Muslims are in more than a single way much different from their brethren in other Islamic nations. Indian Muslims are probably the only ones who have lived in and cherished a democratic set-up as against their counterparts in the Islamic countries of West Asia and even Pakistan.

The taste of democracy and its addiction has evolved a race of young Indian Muslims who think, believe and practise nationalism with a fervour, which is beyond any scrutiny or doubt. The communal agenda of the so-called Indian Muslim leadership, either it be the defiance to sing Vande Mataram or support Pakistan in a cricket match, can only be defeated by a purposeful nationalist attitude, which I am sure is evolving among the middle class, educated Indian Muslims.

Cowardly acts of terrorism both in India and the world by a handful of so-called "jehadis" should not be enough to hang a baggage of hatred and suspicion over the shoulder of these Young Turks of a new order. The malicious propaganda of the Sangh Parivar against Muslims by reminding the masses of chosen historical anecdotes of Muslim maltreatment of Hindus has also resulted in a general feeling of apathy towards Muslims and has contributed in a vituperative labelling of the Indian Muslims.

According to Amartya Sen, India's cultural life does indeed bear the mark of the past, but the mark is that of its interactive and multi-religious history.

There is thus a need for rational thinking and means to develop and promote confidence among Indian Muslims, more so in a democratic set-up like ours. This, I feel, should be a bilateral, reciprocal process without any compromise of India's beautiful fabric of secularism and without putting national security at risk.

Source: The Hindu.