OK

It's been a while since I posted on this blog. It's sad that I'm forced to blog again because of insane turn of events in the past few weeks. What with the arrests of a few guys associated with this new group calling itself (or being called) the Indian Mujahideen (seriously they could've atleast come up with a better name, like the jihadi harbingers of death or summthin)

What's alarming is how decent looking guys are being implicated. Take this piece in the guardian for example. It says one 'Peerbhoy' has been arrested for being a terrorist. Before I continue with this I'd like to say that if someone is a convicted terrorist, they should be punished. There is no second opinion about that. But when I look at these events, I can't help but feel that there's more to it than meets the eye. Take the case I linked to for example.

- Guy has a well paying job. Visited the US on many occassions. Sounds like he has a career ahead of em. So Muslim guys who have good careers ahead of them can suddenly become terrorists.

- These guys belong to, and I quote "highly qualified, computer-savvy people belonging to good and educated families". So now decent Muslim families, with educated members can produce blood thirsty terrorists.

- The article says he became a radical (whatever that's supposed to mean) after visiting Mecca. So now the millions of people visiting Mecca are all now at the risk of being radicalized. Young Muslims guys, beware of travelling to Mecca.

- Also what changed him was his attendance of an Arabic class. For God's sake so many people learn Arabic. Osmania University has an entire dept that teaches the language. So now, anyone trying to learn this language is potentially a... here it comes.. radical.

If you're not on drugs, you'll notice a definite trend here. It's about taking a perfectly normal setting, which applies to millions of Muslim families and turning it in to a threat. Ooo you betta be afraid of the young Muslim guy! Don't be fooled by his good manners or decent family background or the fact that he's actually got a good career ahead of him. He's a filthy terrorist!

I ask all fair minded individuals, if you have Muslim friends (and you should, we make the best food around) don't you feel this could apply to them. I mean if you know a Muslim guy from a decent family, does it occur to you that they could possibly want to harm someone for no justifiable reason.

This is what is disturbing about this whole situation. Until now, the media was telling us that it is the unemployed and disaffected youth that took to terrorism. But now, your everyday, middle class, educated, career-oriented, young Muslim male is potentially a terrorist. The message being communicated here is a dangerous one and all thinking people should strive for the facts before they accept what they find in the mainstream media.