Muslims being treated badly here too, says Abdullah

SRINAGAR: Dr Farooq Abdullah, whose disclosures on the Kandhar hijack put the BJP on the defensive, turned his ire on the Congress-led UPA government over the issue of ‘maltreatment’ of Indian Muslims within and outside the country. He said mal-treatment to the Muslims in Indian planes has become a norm with security agencies.

“The first thing in India about a Muslim is that he is seen as a Pakistani or a terrorist. This has been used as a tool to deny him his aspirations and his rightful place in India,” Dr Abdullah told a gathering of intellectuals, scholars and students here.

Terming the Indian response to the recent instance in Amsterdam as inadequate Dr Abdullah said: “What did India do, it lodged a protest. Had I been the prime minister, I would have never permit that aircraft to land in India and sent the Netherlands ambassador home.”

Dr Abdullah said MHA till date is unable to tell the people who actually were behind the Mumbai blasts. But that has not prevented hundreds of Muslims being detained.

“Passports of Muslims who have earning millions in foreign exchange for India have been impounded and they have been subjected to interrogations and questioning,” a furious Abdullah said.

The former J&K chief minister said the present Indian Muslims were not responsible for the creation of Pakistan. “The leaders of that time were responsible for the division of India because they were after power.

Jinnah wanted to create a secular Pakistan but he died well before that.” He said he has been appealing the people in J&K that they should think of Indian Muslims when they talk of Kashmir settlement. “I would love to go to the jail rather than see their blood on my hands,” he said.

Without referring to the famous clash of civilisation theory, Dr Abdullah said the people in the west were keen on dividing the rest of the world on basis of colour and faith.

“When I introduce myself as Abdullah, they shiver and then I stop telling them that I am from Kashmir,” he said. Terming the situation grave for Muslims world over, Abdullah said rational decision-making was the only way-out for the survival in the prevailing difficult era.