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14 March 2011 By Saeed Qureshi
Rep Peter King's
anti-Muslims assertions will backfire because there is
no evidence, whatsoever, that the American Muslims
harbor grudge or mala-fide sentiments against the
United States of America. Mr. King's tirade and
slander against the Muslims in recent years has been
consistent, highly provocative and head-on.
Peter T. King is the
U.S.
Representative for
New
York's 3rd congressional district, and the
current Chairman of the United States
House Homeland Security Committee.
It is
his festering discrimination towards the Muslim
population in America that impelled Congressman King
to declare in December 2010, that after assuming the
charge of the Chairman of the
House Homeland Security Committee, he would
hold hearings on the radicalization of Muslims. That
is why the first hearing, was held on March 10, 2011,
under the title of "The Extent of Radicalization in
the American Muslim Community and that Community's
Response." In
2004, in an interview with radio anchor
Sean
Hannity, he made a sweeping yet false
accusation that the Muslim leaders were not
cooperating in the
war
on terror," He also hurled a preposterous
claim that "80-85 percent of
mosques in the United States were being
controlled by Islamic radicals. It is pure
falsification to malign Muslims for not cooperating in
the war on terror? The fact that the Muslim leaders
were very helpful in curbing terrorism and offering
cooperation is candidly testified by various
statements made during the first hearing. Along
with other immigrant nationalities that now live in
the United States, Muslim community too is enjoying
the fruits and benedictions of a truly free,
democratic and liberal society.
They are well settled with their families in this
great country. Their progeny and children are growing
up and getting education, doing jobs or engaged in
businesses If they profess and practice
their religion, it does not mean that they dislike the
other religions or the country they have opted to
live. They enjoy the religious freedom in America in
the same way as other religions and denominations do.
In the
backdrop of his cordial interaction with the Muslims
in the past,
Rep King amply
knows that Muslims have integrated into this amazing
society as patriotic and productive members. They
serve in the army, work in the police force and
respond on the call of duty where-ever they are
needed. When questioned why he was singling out
Muslims for these series of hearings, he brusquely
remarked that there was no need to institute such
hearing about other communities living in America
Muslims have come to the United
States either by choice or forced out by the
unbearable inhuman, social, political or economic
conditions in their countries of origin They are
patriotic and are immensely contributing towards
making America great and strong in every manner and
domain. The Muslim communities are extremely law
abiding, keeping a low profile, peaceful and
productive. After the 9/11 horrific incident,
the American Muslims have become extremely passive,
docile and have come under enormous pressure. Although
9/11 was the dirty work of a few misguided
Muslim
youth yet the entire Muslim
community in the United States and the Muslims beyond
were uncharitably bandied with them. Instead of
accusing those terrorists exclusively for that
diabolic act, the blame was placed squarely on the
Muslims as perpetrators of the terrorism. That was the
unkindest slander and indeed myopic and unrealistic
perception about the Muslims. Muslims are quite well aware that
there was a bias towards them from certain anti-
Muslim forces and quarters. As such they would not do
anything that aggravates the animus towards them. They
have been very submissive and try to avoid
controversies lest they are despised and cast as
villains. It is the most trying times for them. Let us not forget that one of the
most outstanding and fascinating hallmarks of America
is that its constitution gives the fundamental rights
of freedom of life, liberty pursuit of happiness and
religious worship to all the inhabitants.
The
Declaration of Independence
written by one of the
founding fathers
Thomas
Jefferson (later the third
president) in 1776 specifically mentions in the first
paragraph, the citizens' rights of life, liberty and
the pursuit of happiness as inalienable. As we all know that the
Federation of the United States of America is not run
on the basis of religion or faith although the
religion of the majority of the people is
Christianity. However, other religions are not
discriminated and they exercise full liberty to
observe their religious obligations. If Peter King wants to single out
the Muslims for an enquiry of what he calls
radicalization of Muslims in American then better fist
of all, he should get the ‘Bill
of Rights' removed from the
constitution of the United
States of America. The
First
Amendment in the historic Bill of
Rights narrates that," Congress shall make no law
respecting establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government
for a redress of the grievances." Mr. King's anti Muslims'
overtures therefore, patently cut across the American
constitution. In a way, this behavior is tantamount to
the violation of this most sacred document that has
distinguished the United States as a glorious land
where there was no abridgement, ban or restriction on
the
religious pluralism.
America is a sanctuary for the
dispossessed, uprooted, persecuted and oppressed human
beings from other parts of the world. Here they find
freedom and galore of human rights that present a
total contrast in their birth countries run by despots
and tyrants. If
Rep. King
wants to solely focus on the Muslims and paint them in
lurid colors and declare them enmasse as unwanted for
a variety of his self-crafted dubious reasons then
better he consult a psychiatrist or reconsider his
erratic motives. Judged by Mr. King's entirely
discriminatory drive against the Muslim only, it would
be pertinent to infer that the world was not going
towards
clash of civilizations
as propounded by Professor Huntington but was diverted
in the direction of clash of Christianity versus Islam
or the western civilization versus Islam. Mr. King's bigotry and being of
racist proclivities is well known ever since he
stepped into the political arena. He has the dubious
record and tendencies of pursuing the politics of
division all along. His track record shows that he has
been an inveterate opponent of giving a legal status
to countless illegal immigrants living here for ages
and working hard to build American economy. He opposes the closure of
Guantanamo
prison. He castigated Michel Jackson as a child
molester and supported most stringent action against
him. In 1980s, King was berated for
actively supporting the terrorist Irish Republic Army.
Now all these off the mark tendencies and
queer perceptions portray King as a person with
narrow, un-American and irrational mindset. If the American citizens are
discriminated on the basis of the ethnic background,
their color, their faith and gender by some
unscrupulous and racist extremists then certainly
these people are doing a disservice to America. They
are trying to distort its grand and lofty image as a
bastion of equality and justice for all irrespective
of their color of the skin or racial background. Let
us not forget that United States is known as the land
of immigrants and that does not exclude the white
Americans as well.
The writer is a senior journalist
and a former diplomatTo
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