Muslim protest rally on Dec 8

In a show of solidarity, some Muslim organisations from Mumbai will jointly organise a silent rally—from CST to the Oberoi-Trident —on December 8.“There will be no slogans, no speeches. No organisations will claim credit for it. It will be a spontaneous act by Mumbai’s Muslims who will be joined by community members from Bhiwandi too,” said Javed Anand, co-editor, Communalism Combat. Anand said the rally will feature two huge banners, saying, “Hamare watan ke dushman, hamare dushman (our motherland’s enemies are our enemies)” and “Begunahon ke qatil, Islam ke dushman (killers of innocents are enemies of Islam).” Under the banner of an initiative called Muslims Against Terror, the protest will identify al-Qaida, Osama bin Laden, ISI, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hafiz Saeed of Jamaat-ud-Dawa, Masood Azhar of Jaish-e-Mohammed, HUJI, Indian Mujahideen and SIMI as “enemies of India”. “All these organisations and individuals justify their activities by quoting the Quran. The mere reiteration that Islam is a religion of peace is not sufficient. We will have to come out and condemn all those who are hijacking Islam,” said Urdu writer-activist Sajid Rashid. He clarified that though the activists were equally opposed to right-wing Hindutva organisations such as the Bajrang Dal and VHP, they would confine the December 8 protest to Muslim terror outfits as they misuses Islam. All-India Muslim Personal Law Board member Kamal Farooqui, who is organising a simultaneous rally in Delhi, said community members needed to come out against all Muslim terror outfits as it would send a positive message.Similar protests are being organised in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Lucknow and Faizabad. Many more cities are expected to join the protest. Many Muslims feel that as fatwas against terrorism are proving ineffective, the time has come to confront the hate brigade openly.