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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 003088 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR NP, AC, PM 
 
STATE FOR INR/MR 
 
STATE FOR SCA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO 
 
STATE FOR SCA/PPD, PA/RRU 
 
STATE FOR AID/APRE-A 
 
USDOC FOR 4530/IEP/ANESA/OSA FOR BILL MURPHY 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: KMDR KPAO PGOV PREL IN
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