International public opinion appears to have been rudely shaken by the recent Indian events involving the dramatic destruction of the historic Babri masjid at Ayodhya at the hands of Hindu fundamentalists. While the reactions in Pakistan Bangladesh Afghanistan and Iran are along predictable lines elsewhere in the middle cast the public opinion is still hopeful of good sense prevailing with the Indian Majority community to rebuild the Babri masjid to assuage the injured Muslim feelings. The people of Pakistan and Bangladesh and to an extent even the people of Afghanistan at one time belonged to the Indian sub-continent and are in a better position to assess the Indian reality. They know better the psyche of Indias majority community vis-a-vis the country’s minorities because as a part of the sub-continent they bore the brunt of Hindu aggression for decades before they parted company. No wonder the Bangladesh government had to call of the SAARC summit scheduled for Dec.12. There has been extensive loss of Hindu shrines in these countries as a reaction to the Ayodhya developments. Even a few Sikh Gurdwara’s also were damaged by protesting Muslim masses in these countries. Such counter-destruction of religious shrines is certainly an undesirable way of beginning ones annoyance with Hindu fundamentalists. Perhaps Sikhs living in these countries have not been able to distinguish themselves from Indian Hindus and their religious beliefs as well as their attitude towards the Indian Muslims and their shrines. This is a pity. The masses in these countries have yet to know that Sikhs and their places of worship are the first to bear the brunt of Hindu fundamentalist’s intolerance. Thus Sikhs are Muslims co-sufferers in India. Indian army’s attack on Akal Takhat at Amritsar is too fresh to be forgotten. But the images of the people of the neighboring countries of India in particular and others in general about the Sikhs stand vis-a-vis the Hindu fundamentalists get distorted by such thoughtless gestures as a group of Akalis belonging to the Akali Dal (Badal) showed by announcing their plans to join the destructive Hindu “kar seva” at Ayodhya. The Badal group has done nothing to disown such anti-Sikh elements. The reactions in not only Pakistan Bangladesh and Afghanistan but also elsewhere in other countries has a strong message for the Sikh community. It must clearly distinguish itself not only in the content of religion but also in form that Sikhism and its shrines have nothing to do with Hinduism and its Mandir. Sikh Gurdwara’s should never be known as Sikh Mandir’s The international public opinion has to be informed that Sikh gurus and saints never made common cause with Hinduism on fundamentals and that the two faiths are totally different from each other. In fact Sikhism has much in common with Islam than with Hinduism It is regrettable that these basic facts were not kept in mind when the S.G.P.C. chief recently gave his reaction to the destruction of Hindu Mandir’s and Sikh Gurdwara’s in Pakistan and elsewhere

The reactions in the U.S.A. U.K. and other western countries have been influenced by first-hand accounts in the media of the happenings at Ayodhya. In particular the western public opinion has had the taste of the Hindu intolerance of a free Press. Several U.S. and U.K. journalists had literally to pay through their nose the price of Press freedom in India. It has to be realized by representatives of the western media that there is no freedom of Press for Muslims Sikhs and other minorities in India. There is no doubt that any member of these minorities would have been simply lynched at Ayodhya had he gone to cover the event on that day What is noteworthy is the fact that the Indian police actively supports the Hindu fundamentalists in India rather than their media victims. It will be naive to believe that the Indian political system rests on different foundations than what was evident at Ayodhya. It has been conclusively shown that the Indian prime minister himself was an active party to the Babri masjids destruction. There were reports in Indian media quoting a U.S. government spokesman that the Ayodhya developments were Indias internal affair If these reports are correct then is concluded that the US administration is totally in the dark about the real nature of the Indian state and its system. The Indian state as a whole is enemy of the human rights of Indian minorities. The government must study in greater depth the amount and extent of Indian state violence against the Muslims resulting in more than 6000 casualties in less than a week. The Muslims were merely protesting against the destruction of their masjid at Ayodhya. In the process not a single member of the Indian security forces was harmed. It is particularly relevant to note that the fundamentalist Indian media falsely projected the killings of Indian Muslims by the armed forces as projected the killings of Indian Muslims by the armed forces as “riots” (between Muslims and Hindus). This lie has been nailed by a Christian leader of the Indian Janata Dal George Fernandes who visited 50 affected colonies in Maharashtra.

The Chinese government too has been quoted by an Indian newspaper as describing the Ayodhya developments as India’s internal affair. This reaction is quite understandable. Was it not Indias then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who had described the Tienmein square massacre of the Chinese youths by Beijing as Chinas internal affair? The Chinese have not been ungrateful in whitewashing India’s crimes at Ayodhya and elsewhere but it is that U.S state department should emulate Chinese record in this respect.

Article extracted from this publication >> December 30, 1992