Wish our PM had said that…

Excerpts from a column by British PM Tony Blair in the Sunday Times recently (May 27, 2007) (emphasis mine):

“The absconding of three people on control orders because of suspicion of their involvement in terrorism has, once again, thrown into sharp relief the debate about terrorism and civil liberty…(that is)… the balance between protecting the safety of the public and the rights of the individual suspected of being involved with terrorism.

…We have chosen as a society to put the civil liberties of the suspect, even if a foreign national, first.

I happen to believe this is misguided and wrong. If a foreign national comes here, and may be at risk in his own country, we should treat him well. But if he then abuses our hospitality and threatens us, I feel he should take his chance back in his own home country.

…Their (terrorists) right to traditional civil liberties comes first.

I believe this is a dangerous misjudgment.

This extremism, operating the world over, is not like anything we have faced before. It needs to be confronted with every means at our disposal.

…This extremism can be defeated.

But it will be defeated only by recognising that we have not created it; it cannot be negotiated with; pandering to its sense of grievance will only encourage it; and only by confronting it, the methods and the ideas, will we win.”

***

Coincidentally, Tavleen Singh also referred to this “sense of grievance” in her column yesterday about Indian Muslims: “De-Indianising Indian Muslims“.

She lamented “the�easygoing, Indianised Islam of before which gave us some of our great poets, musicians, writers, thinkers and movie stars…” and pointed out how Indian Muslims are gradually being affected by the “worldwide jehad” and mentioned “two books that I recommend to our policy makers”, “Infidel” by Ayaan Hirsi Ali and “The Islamist” by Ed Husain”…

Why? Because “…they have been written by Muslims who have observed what is happening in Europe from the inside” (emphasis mine)

“What does all this have to do with India? Well, we have the second largest population of Muslims in the world and since the early nineties they have been gradually radicalised.

Most Indian analysts are too politically correct to acknowledge this and those of us who do blame it on the demolition of the Babri Masjid. After the mosque was demolished in December 1992 there were riots across the country and especially bad ones in Mumbai in which more than a thousand Muslims lost their lives.

…We refuse to accept that there is a movement to de-Indianise Indian Muslims by imposing an Arabic idea of Islam.

Travel to any Indian city with a large Muslim population and you will see more veiled women than ever before, more children in Islamic schools and more overt influence of the religion than before.

Gone is the easygoing, Indianised Islam of before which gave us some of our greatest poets, musicians, writers, thinkers and movie stars.

…What is more worrying is the manner in which our “secular” politicians are making the same mistake Europe made by inadvertently encouraging the worst kind of Islamism through their policies.

Ever since the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government came to power in Delhi three years ago it has revived the old Congress policy of encouraging Muslims to believe they have valid reasons for a sense of grievance.

The Sachar Committee was set up with the specific purpose of establishing that Muslims do not get their share of the Indian pie without anyone bothering to point out that the problem lies mostly with the community…

…The UPA government has gone beyond Sachar in its efforts to create a sense of insecurity among Muslims.

Banks have recently been ordered to give priority loans to Muslims and there are at least two Congress states that have started reserving jobs for Muslims.

It was similar mistakes in England and Europe that allowed the Islamists to feed on insecurities and lure Muslims into their fold with ideas of pan-Islamism.

…How long will it be before we see Muslim religious parties winning elections in other parts of India? How long will it be before these religious parties become involved in the international jehad because let us not forget that Hindus are as much the enemy as other kafirs like Jews and Christians?”

Sobering…and thought-provoking.

Hon PM Sh Manmohan Singh’s image: Courtesy PMO