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PP RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH RUEHPW
DE RUEHCI #0126/01 1080630
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 180630Z APR 07
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1508
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 1424
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0619
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0625
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0399
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0258
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0405
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0328
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0109
RUEHPW/AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 0083
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 0109
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL 0047
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 0001
RUEHJI/AMCONSUL JEDDAH 0001
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1857

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KOLKATA 000126 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA/PPD AND SCA/INS 
DEPT FOR R 
DEPT FOR DRL/IRF 
PACOM FOR POL/AD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KPAO KIRF KISL PHUM SOCI SA IN
SUBJECT: KOLKATA PUBLIC AFFAIRS REACHES OUT TO EASTERN INDIA'S MUSLIM 
COMMUNITY 
 
KOLKATA 00000126  001.2 OF 004 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary.  Students and faculty at Muslim schools 
(madrassas) in West Bengal are enthusiastic to interact with 
U.S. government officials generally and have been appreciative 
in particular with the outreach by the Kolkata American Center 
through participation in MicroAccess English-language and book 
donation programs, as well as cultural events.  While the local 
Muslim community is open to engagement, there are others, 
however, who may not look upon this interaction favorably. 
Reacting to pressure from Saudi donors, a local madrassa was 
forced to cancel a performance featuring female acrobats that 
had been arranged by the Consulate Kolkata Public Affairs 
Section, and a ground-breaking speaking tour by a prominent 
American Muslim scholar was ignored by the local 
English-language media, although it received extensive, 
favorable coverage in the Urdu-language press.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
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Madrassas Reach Out to Kolkata PAS 
 
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¶2.  (SBU) Consulate Kolkata's Public Affairs Section (PAS) is 
actively engaged in reaching out to the Muslim community of 
eastern India in many ways, including speaker programs, 
MicroAccess English language learning, book donations, 
establishing contacts with NGOs active in Muslim-majority areas, 
as well as cultural and entertainment events.  The audiences, 
particularly for English language learning and book donations at 
madrassas, are enthusiastic about interacting with Kolkata PAS 
and invariably request extensions for language teaching 
programs.  American speakers who address Islamic themes attract 
large audiences among area Muslims, responding to many questions 
from audiences about the place of Islam in American society. 
Interestingly, the few occasions when we have encountered 
difficulties meeting program expectations were due to either 
outside pressure on area Muslims, or non-Muslim influence in 
local media. 
 
 
 
¶3.  (U) Since November 2006, Consulate Kolkata's Public Affairs 
Officer (PAO) has interacted with students and faculty at five 
Muslim schools (madrassas) in West Bengal and one in Patna, 
Bihar.  These madrassas typically have between 500 to 1,000 
students, many of them boarders living in on-campus student 
hostels.  Only two of the six schools are co-educational, while 
three are for male students and one only accepts females. 
Although some start with kindergarten, most area madrassas offer 
classes to students between the ages of eight and eighteen, or 
the equivalent of third grade through high school.  The medium 
of instruction in madrassas in West Bengal is the local language 
(Bengali), although both Urdu- and Arabic-language classes are 
usually mandatory. 
 
 
 
¶4.  (U) Many if not most of the students at all of the madrassas 
with which we interact are unable to pay tuition and/or boarding 
fees; in such cases the students are accepted free of charge and 
are supported by "zaqat," or donations.  Some 29 percent of West 
Bengal's total population of 80 million is Muslim, with the vast 
majority of Muslim students in state schools.  In fact, many 
 
KOLKATA 00000126  002.2 OF 004 
 
 
poorer Muslims select madrassas for their children because of 
the prospect of receiving "zaqat" assistance to defray room and 
board expenses.  Designing programs for madrassa audiences is 
thus a way to not only reach Muslim youth, but also to make an 
impact on the poorer segment of the Muslim community.  None of 
the madrassas we have visited receive financial assistance from 
the government.  Of an estimated 7,000 madrassas in West Bengal, 
only several hundred receive some form of monetary assistance 
from official sources.  Most resist offers of government 
assistance because they believe that will inevitably lead to 
pressure to conform to the state's views on curriculum content. 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) After addressing students and faculty at madrassas, 
Kolkata PAO always opens the floor to any and all questions, 
with the most common tending to be about social customs in 
America, as well as the situation for Muslims living in the U.S. 
 Girls often ask if it is legal to dress in traditional Muslim 
clothing for women, such as the hejab, in the United States, and 
about dating customs.   Both boys and girls are very curious to 
know if Islam is growing in numbers and influence and whether 
non-Muslims discriminate against Muslims.  Questions about 
politics usually center on American policy in Iraq (the manner 
in which Saddam Hussein was executed elicits quite a bit of 
anger), Afghanistan, and the Kashmir issue, with little interest 
in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  After these rather 
freewheeling question-and-answer sessions, the students, even 
those asking challenging questions, often approach the PAO to 
shake his hand and invite him back for more discussion. 
 
 
 
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Enthusiasm For English Programs and Book Donations 
 
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¶6.  (U) All of these madrassas are keen that PAS either initiate 
or extend MicroAccess English language programs.  During one 
recent visit to the al-Medina Madrassa in Memari, Burdwan 
district, two-hours' drive northwest of Kolkata, PAO distributed 
certificates to 75 students upon their completion of a one-year 
MicroAccess program.  Students at al-Medina were so enthusiastic 
that more than 200 have signed a petition requesting that post 
renew the program for a second year.  At lunch, during which the 
newly-certified students serenaded PAO from the hallway with a 
slightly off-key rendition of "We Shall Overcome," the faculty 
pressed for assurances that funding for instructors and 
textbooks for the English program be renewed for another year. 
 
 
 
¶7.  (U) Book donations to madrassa libraries are extremely 
popular.  Not only do these donations reinforce the students' 
nascent English-language skills; they are also a valuable window 
on an outside world that the students, many of them villagers, 
have never had the opportunity to experience.  PAS New Delhi 
provides several types of book sets for donation, including a 
"madrassa set" which usually includes titles on diversity in the 
U.S. and comparative religion.  In our experience, however, the 
most appreciated and even cherished donations are encyclopedia 
 
KOLKATA 00000126  003.2 OF 004 
 
 
sets; one set entitled "General Book of Knowledge" is 
appropriate for the students' level of English.  Upon donating 
this set, we have seen students avidly pulling the books off the 
shelves even before we leave the premises. 
 
 
 
¶8.  (U) It is difficult to exaggerate the value students and 
faculty place on these book donations, given the meager 
resources available in most madrassa libraries.  During one 
recent visit to the library of a madrassa outside Kolkata, PAO 
asked the director if the library had an English-language 
encyclopedia.  The director pointed with pride to a dusty set of 
the Encyclopedia Britannica high on a shelf.  PAO reached for 
one volume and, opening the book, noted that it was the ninth 
edition, dated 1883.  Within one month of this visit Kolkata PAS 
returned and donated a current set of the General Book of 
Knowledge, much to the students' delight. 
 
 
 
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Still, Roadblocks Remain 
 
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¶9.  (SBU) Although the local Muslim community in eastern India 
is generally open to our outreach efforts, we do sometimes 
encounter difficulties from other quarters.  For example, 
Kolkata PAS programmed a troupe of American acrobats to perform 
for the students at a madrassa where a MicroAccess English 
program has been particularly successful.  The faculty at the 
school arranged for the venue, in the process inviting hundreds 
of local townspeople to join the students for the show.  When 
one of the school's prominent donors, the Jeddah-based Islamic 
Development Bank, came to know on the night before the show was 
to take place that female performers were part of the act, they 
demanded that either the females not perform or the show be 
cancelled.  As the male acrobats refused to perform without 
their female partners, the show was cancelled, which was a huge 
embarrassment for the madrassa's administration.  As the 
president of the madrassa explained to Kolkata PAO, "We are 
deeply embarrassed, please accept our apologies, but they are an 
important donor and must be made happy." (Note:  At another 
madrassa without Saudi or other outside financial donors the 
same show went on as planned without incident.) 
 
 
 
¶10.  (SBU) On another occasion, Kolkata PAS programmed a 
prominent American Muslim scholar, Imam Yahya Hendi of 
Georgetown University, for three days of speaking engagements at 
area Muslim and secular institutions, including Calcutta 
University and the Sola Ana Mosque, one of the largest in 
Kolkata.  Imam Hendi is well-known among Muslim scholars in 
eastern India and he drew large and appreciative audiences, who 
were not hesitant to ask him probing questions about his views 
on politics and American society.  The high point was his visit 
to the Sola Ana Mosque, where he led Friday prayers and 
attracted a crowd of over 15,000 very enthusiastic worshippers. 
He also addressed the congregation on the theme of harmony and 
cooperation between cultures and religions.  The response was 
overwhelmingly positive, with thousands jostling to touch him. 
 
 
KOLKATA 00000126  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) The event at the Sola Ana Mosque was well-attended by 
local press and media.  However, although the Urdu-language 
press gave Imam Hendi's speaking engagements prominent and 
favorable coverage, the English-language dailies (the sole 
exception being the Indian Express) completely ignored his 
visit.  Given the presence of journalists from the English and 
vernacular media at all the Imam's events, the prominence of the 
venues, and the interest that his visit generated among area 
Muslims, we asked the reporters why their newspapers had not 
printed stories.  Reporters present at Imam Hendi's speaking 
engagements and the Friday prayers at the mosque (from the Times 
of India, Hindustan Times, Statesman, Telegraph, Asian Age) all 
told us they filed stories but that none of their reports were 
printed.  The reporters, all of whom are Muslim, told us they 
believe their stories were not printed because the subject was 
"about Muslim issues" and that their editors were displaying a, 
perhaps unconscious, anti-Muslim bias.  And while it is true 
that a segment of the Muslim population was reached through the 
many favorable articles published about the Imam's visit in the 
Urdu press, a significant part of the Muslim community depends 
on English or vernacular language sources for its news; the 
result was that we did not reach this significant group.  The 
only English-language newspaper to cover the story, the Indian 
Express, has a very small circulation in Kolkata (5,000) and, 
perhaps significantly, a news editor who is a former 
International Visitor and who continues to maintain close 
personal contact with the American Center. 
 
 
 
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Comment 
 
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¶12.   (SBU) India is the world's third-largest Muslim country, 
but nevertheless Muslims are in a minority and must accommodate 
majority attitudes which may not encourage their interaction 
with outsiders.  Although Kolkata PAS' experience engaging with 
local Muslim audiences has generally been positive, there are 
other factors which serve to limit interaction.  In eastern 
India, relatively poor Muslim institutions are sometimes 
financially dependent on outside donors who may be more socially 
conservative than local Muslims.  Unrestricted interaction with 
the non-Muslim community, much less the United States, can be a 
casualty of the influence these donors inevitably wield.  And as 
Imam Hendi's visit illustrates, when inter-religious prejudices 
exist, the local power structure (whether it be political 
parties or media) can limit the scope of outreach programs. 
 
 
 
¶13.  (SBU) As the experience of Consulate Kolkata PAS' Muslim 
outreach program illustrates, local Muslims may be welcoming, 
but face outside pressures or antipathy of others, both local 
and distant, who see no value in promoting dialogue between 
Islam and the United States.  Given the receptivity of the local 
Muslim community for more interaction with the United States, 
greater engagement through increased public affairs programs 
would help to overcome the obstacles of anti-American sentiment.JARDINE