Why media is surprised over Lashkar's terrorist Sandeep Sharma?

When the police busted a terror module, they claimed arresting Sandeep Sharma, a Lashkar-e-Toiba terrorist.

The news was played up as, 'Lashkar's Hindu terrorist arrested', as if it was something rare.

In fact, soon after his name appeared, there were speculations and also immediate follow-up stories that how he fell in love with a girl and took to militancy.

There was a sense of bewilderment. It is true that we haven't heard about many Hindu names in Jammu & Kashmir's militancy. But thousands of Hindus have been involved with terrorist and extremist groups in India.

ULFA, which is also banned terror outfit, just like Lashkar, has had thousands of militants in its cadre over the last three decades or so.

The group [ULFA] has been solely responsible for the highest number of deaths due to insurgency-militancy in India. There are dozens of such groups in North East.

The Maoist terrorism also has nearly 90% Hindu cadre. They have been responsible for terror attacks, have killed ex-ministers, politicians like former Union minister VC Shukla, attacked and blown up buildings and installations for decades.

The right-wing terror groups have been involved in dozen-odd attacks ranging from Malegaon to Mecca Masjid attack. Names like Ramchandra Kalsangra, Sandeep Dange, Amit alias Ashish, who have been wanted for over 100 killings in Samjhauta Express and other bombings are still, absconding.

Then, from LTTE to Abhinav Bharat and anatan Sanstha, there have been extremist and terror groups with huge Hindu membership. Remember, former RSS' members were not just arrested but convicted and jailed for attack on Ajmer Dargah.

As far as Sandeep Sharma is concerned, he is basically from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh. He was a welder who took to crime and later became a face of Lashkar-e-Toiba. He was close to Bashir Ahmad Wani.

LINK:

*LeT has a Hindu face, his name is Sandeep Sharma LINK

Muslim couple defies curfew, walks for miles to provide food to Hindu family in Kashmir: Communal Harmony Project-29

After Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani's killing in an encounter with security forces, Jammu and Kashmir is on the boil.

Dozens of youths have died in firing and scores have their vision affected as pellets hit their eyes.

Curfew has been enforced in many parts of the valley.

Besides, this is the period when Amarnath Yatra has already begun.

Amid reports of deaths and gloom, there are also stories from the region that show how people risk their lives for the sake humanity, even in such a situation.


This Kashmiri Muslim couple braved a strict curfew to take food to his Kashmiri Pandit family's house. Zubaida Begam and her husband walked for miles, risking lives, after receiving telephone from across Jhelum river from the KP friend, reports India Today.

Diwan Chand and his family, including an ailing grandmother, were desperate for help as crisis mounted in the Valley. Shops were shut, no transport and curfew was imposed. Yet, they managed to reach Diwan Chand Pandit's house, with the ration.

The truth is that there are innumerable examples of communal harmony in our day to day live and we all are aware.

But negative truth travels faster and makes greater impact. We must not let the bad stories overshadow the good and positive aspects of our society.

Thank you, India Today, for highlighting a good story about the relations, closeness of people on the ground. The original story is here.

[Harmony exists all around us but is often ignored. Instead, stories of hate, discord and communalism get spread easily.

There are a million examples in our daily lives across India but they don't get promoted, hence, news of hate and discord gets heard more. Let's change it, now. This is a small attempt to change it through Communal Harmony Project]

For reading similar reports on this blog, Click HERE

#communalharmony #communalharmonyproject #india

[Photos courtesy, LINK to sotry: India Today]

J-K Chief Minister, India's first Muslim home minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed passes away

Veteran politician Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who was chief minister of Jammu & Kashmir, has passed away in Delhi.

Mufti, 80, was undoubtedly a master politician, who will always be remembered as the first Muslim home minister of India.

Once it was commonly said that no Muslim could ever be made a Home Minister in India as the ministry directly heads intelligence agencies apart from handling 'sensitive information'.

But when the National Front government under VP Singh came to power, Mufti became India's first Muslim Home Minister.

It was big news in media for days. However, his tenure was anything but memorable.

Soon after he became Union home minister, his daughter Rubaiya was abducted by militants in J-K. It became a crisis for the state government as well as the Centre. Rubaiyya was finally secured and safely recovered (after militants were released), after long negotiations.

But that was not the end of Mufti, who is credited to set up a political party in Jammu and Kashmir. This was no mean job. To establish a party in the state, where locals claim that nothing takes place without Centre's nod, and to become chief minister, that too twice, is a remarkable achievement.

Mufti's daughter Mahbooba Mufti also matured as a politician. In a state where Sheikh Abdullah's National Conference was the major party apart from Congress, Mufti's PDP surprisingly managed to create its vote.

Many Kashmiris now blame Mufti for letting the BJP [and the RSS] spread their base and power in Kashmir. If politics is the art of impossible, Mufti definitely did the impossible. Despite the contradictions, Mufti and Modi came together. 

He formed the government with BJP, the first time the Saffron party came to power [even though in an alliance] in the state. Also, RSS began holding 'path-sanchalan' in the State. This was something new in the State and many locals resented it.

Many Kashmiris feel that Mufti's regime weakened the state's special status. The issue of state flag also came to fore during his second tenure. However, to many outsiders Mufti's seemed better than Omar Abdullah's term when 'stone pelting returned with bullets' led to more than 100 youths killed.

Alwida Mufti sahab.