Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Repellent Faces of Secular States

Will the news coming from Switzerland that they have decided to permit the preaching of Islam, allowed the construction of mosques and are thinking of permitting the construction of minarets in mosques be able to remove the scars that had come on the liberal face of the country after the laws regarding the ban on the construction of minarets was passed in Switzerland?
The meaning of a secular state is that the state has no religion i.e. the state does not have anything do with religion. The state does not interfere in the matters of religion; in fact it is totally independent in this case. The citizens of such a country are free to practice their religious obligations. If a person wants to go to the mosque then they can go, if a person wants to go to the temple then they can go, and if a person wants to go to the church then they can go there.

Beliefs and Traditions
Everyone is free to go to any place of worship. If a person does not believe in any religion or god, then it does not have any impact on the state. The state has to run all the affairs according to the constitution of the country. In a secular state, if every person is free to practice their religion then this also means that a person is allowed to construct their places of worship according to their own beliefs and traditions.
On contrary, the things that happened regarding the construction of the minarets in mosques in the most respectable country in the world, Switzerland, is not only unbelievable but it is also a slap on the face of Switzerland which calls itself a secular state, the 62 plus Islamic countries in the world and the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world.

Referendum on Constitution Amendment
On 29 November, 57 percent of the Swiss voters in the referendum voted in favor of the constitution amendment aimed at banning the construction of minarets in mosques. This issue started in 2005 when the Turkish cultural association asked for the permission to build a 6-meter high minaret on the Islamic cultural centre, which led to protests and agitations. This case was then taken up by the local responsible institutions, who allowed the construction of the minaret but the so called most respectable, independent and secular Swiss nation did not accept this decision. This protest was given a political flavor by calling the minarets as symbols of political strength.
The case was finally taken up by the federal Supreme Court, which also gave the go-ahead signal to the Muslims. So, finally, the 6-meter minaret was constructed in July 2009. After this, a well planned and coherent campaign was launched. The minarets were shown as a missile tearing apart the flag of the Swiss flag on the banners held up by the protestors. This campaign was done by the political parties.
It is interesting to note that there are only 0.3 million Muslims in Switzerland which has a total population of 7.7 million. In addition, there are only three mosques that have minarets. They could not even tolerate this. It is correct that Islam is not dependent on the minarets but this fiasco revealed the true face of secular Switzerland. On one hand, there is talk of a dialogue between the different religions of the world, on the other, how much care was taken of the emotions and sentiments of the 1.5 billions Muslims by the most independent and peaceful country in the world.

Ban on Hijab
After 9/11, the Muslims have been subject of repression by the United States, but Europe is also not lagging behind America. Muslim teachers and students in Europe are not allowed to work/study because they are wearing hijab. They have gone to different courts for this purpose. Initially this protest was limited to the public but the ex-foreign minister of Britain has taken this issue to parliament by rejecting it. Now, a constitutional ban is being placed on wearing hijab in France. Similar movements are taking place in Italy, the Netherlands, and other European countries.
A respected Egyptian lady was martyred by a German by repeated attacks of the sword in a court house filled with lawyers, judges and police officials. Surprisingly, no one in the court tried to stop the mad person from killing the lady. The police did not even try to stop it. The husband of the martyr lady tried to stop the attacker but he was also injured. This is the condition of the world states who have so called no link with religion.

Hindu State Mindset
There is a secular state in our neighborhood as well. It is also the so called largest secular and democratic country in the world. Yes certainly, India, which lays claim to be the largest secular and democracy in the world, treats the minorities in an inhumane way and are deprived of their fundamental rights in such a way that no other country in this respectable world cannot even imagine to do those things. In reality, India is not a secular and democratic state, it is a Hindu state. The philosophy of this state is simple and very threatening as it states, "Hindustan is for Hindus," which means that only Hindus are only allowed to live in India. The non-Hindus will have to become Hindus again. They are against all religions except for extremist Hinduism but Islam and Muslim are particularly their targets. These Hindu extremist groups have 1.7 million plus Hindu agents. The political wing of this Hindu state mindset is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is led by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, who had supervised the martyr of 5000 Muslims in Gujarat, of which 2500 Muslims were burnt alive. The institutions of the Muslims were looted and burnt. The rulers of the secular state were proud of these acts and they ordered more such actions.
There was excessive usage of state machinery in these acts. These actions gave Modi the status of a god and he was a candidate for the Prime Minster spot in the BJP in the elections held last year. The police officials involved in these riots were given awards for bravery and promotions. This Hindu state has martyred the Babri Mosque and thousands of Muslims. The secular state has taken no action against the people involved in these acts despite the fact that such a long time has passed since these events have taken place and different reports of investigation committees have come forward. The army of this secular state has taken the lives of more than hundred thousand Muslims in Kashmir alone since 1988.
The army of this secular state has killed 250,000 Sikhs since 1984. This secular India has killed 300,000 Christians since 1947 in the state of Nagaland alone. Two years ago, forty thousand Christians were subject to extreme violence and repression in the state of Orissa, which forced them to migrate from their homes. Hundred people were killed and thousands were injured. Their houses were looted, numerous churches were burnt and priests and nuns were burnt alive. Thousands of Christians were forced to live in jungles for weeks. The Sikhs in collaboration with the secular Hindus of India committed violence and killed one million Muslims at partition.

Inhumane Behavior and Attitude
In this secular state of India, the high caste Hindus have an extremely dreadful behavior with their low caste Hindus. It is even a distant thought to give them the fundamental rights of human beings; they are not even treated as humans. The high caste Hindus cannot have food, worship at the same place, cannot marry, cannot talk on equal terms, sit with each other or even touch the low caste Hindus. The only work of the low caste Hindus is to clean the streets and sanitation systems. The treatment given to them is even worse than that given to animals. This inhumane behavior and attitude of the high caste Hindus towards the low caste Hindus and minorities is like a bad scar on the name of humanity.
The humanity is shameful on this attitude of a group of people with other persons. This is not something which the Indians are showing to the world, the world does not see this and the world is not even interested in watching these things. They are also viewing these things from the perspective of their benefits. They can only see the market of 1.15 billion people.
The things that have been done by the court of one more secular state with Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, they are not even capable of being called a secular state. Have the evil faces of these nations not been revealed completely? Are these people not mad and extremist? Is not the treatment given to non-Muslims by Muslim countries better than the treatment given to Muslims in non-Muslim countries? Despite this, the Muslims have to face the entire storm. The stature of the 1.5 billion Muslims is not even equal to the 14.6 million Jews spread across 104 countries.

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