CRIME AND ABETMENT. 11th August 2006.

The Front Line dated August 11, 2006 has an article on section World Affairs titled "Crime and Abetment" by Rafiq Zakaria a lawyer in US and member of Asian American Network Against Abuse of Women. She has discussed in all its details the murder of two (1) Ghazala Khan a Danish Pakistani and (2) Samaira Nazer a British Pakistani. The first one was shot by her brother for marrying against the family's wishes. The second one was stabbed to death by her brother while she was forcibly held down by her mother. The gruesome acts should have elicited the severest condemnation from their community in Denmark and Britain. Instead the muslim communities in both countries took a stand that honour killings of daughters or other kin are too few to warrant severe or strong condemnation while such killings do happen with sikh and christian families. This is false defence. If the community as such fails to condemn and ostracise such humble killers in their midst the other communities has every right to despise the community itself that condomn the murders and murderers. Rafiq Zakaria deplores the attitude of muslim community not only to such crimes but also act of terrorism of killing innocents that results from it. Why I got interested in this article? The writer makes a stand against communally accepted violence in the name of communal solidarity and unity. Such justifications are trotted out by progressive and left leaning intellectuals which instead isolating the terrorists and perpetrators all violen ce, help to cover them. One could recall the justification violence and destruction that erupted in the aftermath the prophet cartoons. In India the mainstream left gave its shoulder to the religious elements mobilise lakhs of muslim to demonstrate in protest. But in the aftermath of 11/7/06 serial bomb blasts neither the left nor the left proped groups that came out in massive strength earlier, ever stirred. Instead of siezing an opportunity to show the secularist consolidation and strength, the left was completely silent. They were making noise about price rise, privatisation, Pathak Report and Indo-US N Deal. Also significant is that this article is published in Frontline as extreme left learning magazine.

By,

K.N. Krishnan.