SPECIAL MEDIA REPORT - INDIAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN

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SUBJECT: SPECIAL MEDIA REPORT - INDIAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN
MUMBAI TERROR ATTACKS


1. SUMMARY: Prior to the Eid-ul-Zuha holiday (December
9),Muslims across the country demonstrated or spoke out
in condemnation of terrorism, asserting that it has no
place in Islam. Thousands demonstrated in the streets of
Mumbai. Celebrities joined other Muslim community members
in denouncing terror on TV and in the press. In another
significant gesture, a section of Muslims toned down the
annual December 6 commemoration of a 1992 Ayodhya
communal riots in which Hindus destroyed the Babri
mosque. Above all, the Muslim clergy has announced a
"Black Eid" on December 9, signaling the community's
sorrow and solidarity with all the Mumbai terror victims.
Media reports suggest that Muslims in this country have
disowned the terrorists' misplaced jihad, and forcefully
staked their claim to being as Indian as anybody else in
the country. END SUMMARY.

-- BOLLYWOOD SUPERSTAR SAYS MUMBAI ATTACKERS UN-ISLAMIC


2. Shah Rukh Khan, one of India's top film stars, said
the extremists who attacked Mumbai were un-Islamic.
"There's nothing Islamic about terrorism. I am a Muslim,
I read the Koran, but nowhere in the holy text does it
say you can get jannat [paradise] from jihad," he was
quoted as saying by THE SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA.


3. Khan, 43, is one of a number of Muslim actors who
dominate Bollywood. The actor, whose wife is Hindu, is
currently working on a new film "My Name is Khan,"
exploring Islam in the post-9/11 world and the
misconception that all Muslims are extremists. Khan told
THE HINDUSTAN TIMES in an interview that Pakistan was
"living in denial... let us accept the truth that these
guys [extremists] are being trained there." He also
appeared on the evening NDTV News program.

-- BLACK ARM BANDS, NOT BIRYANI!


4. Bollywood's other Muslims too are in mourning and will
reportedly not celebrate Eid Tuesday. "How can they sit
down to a biryani [a rice and mutton delicacy] when their
mouths are dry, their eyes are moist and their hearts are
heavy with the images of 26/11?" They will wear a black
arm-band instead, THE SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA reported.


5. "The question of celebration doesn't arise," Bollywood
diva Katrina Kaif told the paper. Mumbai's Muslim
minority, fearing reprisals, have said they will conduct
only low-key celebrations for the upcoming Eid-al-Adha
festival, which marks the prophet Ibrahim's obedience to
God with the ritual slaughter of animals.

-- MUSLIM ORGANIZATIONS HOLD PEACE MARCH, DEPLORE ATTACKS


6. Reports said on Sunday, Muslims across Mumbai held a
peace march between two sites that were attacked - from
the Mumbai train station to the Trident-Oberoi hotel.
More than 5,000 people rallied near Trident Hotel to
expressed regret that the patriotism of Indian Muslims
was being questioned because Islam is being wrongly
interpreted by some Muslims.

NEW DELHI 00003088 002 OF 003




7. The NDTV news channel reported that there was a
conscious display of patriotism at the gathering, which
included film personalities, businessmen, students, women
and children. "Some people think that they are the
saviors of Islam and they speak for all Muslims. We want
to tell them no. We don't want you. You are
terrorists," said India's most famous lyricist Javed
Akhtar. Noted actor Javed Jaffery said, "Islam is being
misunderstood. In the name of Jihad, the Taliban and Al-
Qaeda are destroying property and killing people. The
actual meaning of Jihad is defense."


8. "We do not know whether this was done by people from
Pakistan or India, but whatever has happened is wrong and
beastly," Maulana Agha Nasiri, a cleric from Shia Alim
said at the rally. "Killing innocents is not jihad. This
is animal behavior," said Maulana Nasri, a senior cleric.

-- MUSLIMS GO EASY ON OBSERVING ANNUAL BABRI PROTESTS


9. Reports said a section of India's Muslims also toned
down their annual observance of the 16th anniversary of
the razing of the Babri mosque, as a mark of mourning.
Subdued protests were staged in the holy city of Ayodhya,
the scene of the demolition of the ancient mosque, and
other states as a somber mood prevailed in the country.

-- MUSLIMS FEEL HEAT OF 26/11


10. In the wake of the Mumbai attack, the media have been
considering on the state of India's Muslim large minority
and how the country treats its minorities generally. THE
HINDUSTAN TIMES reported that even as Muslims were
mourning with the rest of the nation, the Mumbai attacks
appear to have created a fresh, vocal backlash against
Muslims in India, with reports of jibes, anger and open
prejudice in urban areas.


11. While the Indian Muslim grieves "along with rest of
the country, there is a sense of bewildered confusion
because somewhere he feels that rest of the country looks
upon him with suspicion and blame," an appeal in the
newspaper by some prominent Muslims said.

-- "NEW AGENDA FOR INDIAN MUSLIMS"


12. The DAILY NEWS & ANALYSIS English daily said, "To
equate Indian Muslims with Pakistanis (or any other
country) is puerile in its stereotyping, preposterous in
its ambit of argument, and insensitive in the extreme."
Lauding the stand taken by the Muslim clergy in Mumbai to
refuse burial to terrorists, editor Ayaz Memon said this
suggests Indian Muslims are now willing to help
themselves and find a new voice.


13. Memon set a five-point agenda for the community -
"Demythify jihad and denounce terrorism; emphasize
education; combine prudence with charity; shed
insularity; and realize our problems are our own."


NEW DELHI 00003088 003 OF 003



14. COMMENT: With India blaming Islamic terrorists from
Pakistan for the Mumbai incident, it was feared that the
Muslim community, particularly in Mumbai, could be
targeted for retribution or hostility. People in some
Muslim neighborhoods were dreading a sectarian assault by
Hindu right-wingers and anti-terrorism agencies. More
than a week after the incident those fears have subsided.
From elite public statements to community peace marches
to calls for toned-down Eid celebrations, India's Muslims
have made their sentiments very clear about the Mumbai
terror attacks. One commentator noted hopefully that the
ecent terror attacks might serve as a "catharsis for
Indian Muslims to rouse themselves from helplessness into
self-help with intelligence, energy and commitment."
MULFORD