World obliged to ensure punishment to 26/11 culprits: Ahamed

Aligarh (UP), Jan 27 (PTI) The international community
has a "moral obligation" to ensure that the perpetrators of
the Mumbai attacks are meted out "due punishment", India's
Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said Tuesday.

Addressing a gathering at the Aligarh Muslim University,
he also said the war on terror will be successful when it is
understood that terrorists have no religion and all civilised
countries ensure that anyone responsible for acts of terrorism
gets "no sanctuary anywhere in the world".

"It is the moral obligation of the international
community to ensure that the people and organisations
responsible for the 26/11 strikes are meted out due punishment
for their heinous crime against the humanity," he said.

Ahamed, who is also the national president of the Indian
Union Muslim League, said the perpetrators of violence against
innocent people had forfeited their rights to be accepted as
"followers of Islam" as the religion "explicitly forbids such
heinous acts".

Coming down heavily on "some sections" in the country who
were trying to "tarnish the image of the Muslim community," he
said such forces were "communalising the war against terror
for narrow political gains."

He urged such groups to get rid of this "outdated
mindset" and acknowledge the fact that the role of the Indian
Muslims in India's freedom struggle and later in preserving
this precious freedom was "second to none".

Striking an emotional cord with the gathering, he
declared, "Let the word go out to all those, who question our
integrity that we were born here, will die here and will be
buried in the soil of this country."

Referring to the current challenges faced by the Muslim
community, Ahamed said it was also an undeniable fact that a
vast majority of Muslims in India were "languishing among the
most underprivileged sections of society".

"It is a sad truth that many of the privileges enshrined
in the Constitution of India were presently being denied to
Muslims," he said adding, "if any section of the country is
deprived of the fruits of development, the underprivileged
group becomes a drag on the rest of the country."

The Minister also reminded the Muslims to acknowledge and
give full credit to the members of the Hindu community, who
"were at the vanguard of the movement for preserving
secularism in the country and protecting minority rights."

Describing Gujarat riots as a "blot" on the country, he
said "Let us never forget that it was the secular Hindus, who
formed the overwhelming majority in the country, who led the
fight for justice and human rights in Gujarat."

He urged the Muslims to come forward and play their due
role in the vital task of nation-building. PTI