Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has been having sleepless nights for the two Indian doctors who are in the centre of the London-Glasgow terror plot. They are believed to have been involved in the conspiracy to attack more airports in Britain. They almost succeeded in blowing up Glasgow Airport but for the alert ground security staff. Curiously, Mr Singh has shared with a group of women journalists recently that after seeing the mother of the two Indian doctors break down on television, he couldn't sleep all night.

Meanwhile, the third accused involved in the terror plot - who was picked up from a burning car that he drove right into the terminal of the busy airport - has been identified as an aeronautical engineering undergraduate from a college in England. This man, identified as Kafeel Ahmed, is the brother of Sabeel Ahmed and a cousin of Mohammed Haneef - the other two suspected terrorists. And all three hail from Karnataka. It is noteworthy that the Prime Minister is not disturbed by the fact that some highly educated Indian Muslims have joined the despicable company of Islamist terrorists. Instead, he is worried about the plight of the mother of the malcontents. For that matter, any mother will be upset if her children are arrested for criminal activities. But that should not be reason enough for the Prime Minister of a country to turn emotional.

However, Mr Singh did not lose his sleep when 187 Indians belonging to different communities died in the Mumbai train bombings barely a year ago. Initially, the Union Government had blamed Pakistan for the bombings but failed to prove it when Islamabad demanded evidence. When the conspirators turned out to be local technocrats who happened to be Muslims, the entire investigation process slowed down. One year later, we are yet to hear from the Government whether or not the conspirators have been identified and, if so, whether those mass murderers have been arrested.

The Prime Minister did not worry when Islamist terrorists barged into the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, and killed an eminent scientist. Probably, Mr Singh did not bother to see the grieving kin of the killed scientist on television. Neither the Prime Minister nor Congress president Sonia Gandhi appeared moved by the incident in which a train compartment carrying Hindu pilgrims was set afire by extremists at Godhra, Gujarat, in 2002.

Moreover, terrorists have made attempts to attack temples in Ayodhya and other places in the country, which have been, fortunately, foiled by vigilant security personnel. The bomb blasts in Delhi on the eve of Diwali in 2005 and several other similar incidents are all piling up as cases that have not reached their legal conclusion. The UPA Government has refused to see the growing menace of Indian Muslims being involved in planning and execution of terrorist acts. Further, many of them have been found to assist infiltrators and shelter them. In almost all these incidents, whether in Bangalore or Mumbai, the major role was played by well-educated Muslims.

The myth that Indian Muslims are not connected to Al Qaeda stands exposed. Our band of 'secularists' can surely read the writing on the wall but refuse to acknowledge it. Another myth that has been blown out of proportion is that it is the poor Muslims who are being misled into becoming terrorists because they have a 'valid grievance' against the state for its failure to redress their poverty. But why are educated Muslims like doctors and engineers collaborating in bombing and killing innocent people? Are they fighting a battle on behalf of the poor in their community? Aren't there poor people among Hindus and other communities as well? They do not bomb and kill others even though the state has not been able to offer them succour.

It should be noted that Indian Muslims, who have come under the influence of extreme Wahaabism, are being sucked into the terror network. The Ahmadiyas, Bohras, etc, have been living peacefully. Many of these Muslim sects are prosperous and they also take care of the needy in their community. They don't bomb Indian trains under the pretext that US President George W Bush has attacked Afghanistan or Iraq.

The terrorists and their sympathisers never protested when Saddam Hussein used chemical gas to exterminate Kurds and buried hundreds of Shias in mass graves after shooting them dead. This senseless grievance-mongering to justify terrorism has to stop. Only the leaders of the Muslim community can stop it. Europe in general, and Britain in particular, is home to Muslims who went there to make money. Many succeeded; some did not. The same story applies to Hindu, Sikh, African and Chinese immigrants, too. But none of them is turning terrorist just because some of their folks have failed to make it big in Britain. Why then are people from one community alone joining - and graduating from - the jihadi schools enthusiastically? Why is it that activists of SIMI have spread into Muslim neighbourhoods in India? Why is it that they find refuge and support in Muslim ghettos?

In pursuit of competitive communalism, the Government, of which Mr Manmohan Singh is supposed to be the head, is suspected to have instructed the police to go slow on probing all such cases of terrorism where the trail of investigation leads to Muslims. That must be the reason for the slow progress in the cases of the Mumbai train bombings and the attack on IISc, Bangalore.

The Prime Minister condemns terrorism abroad but does little to push the investigating agencies at home to go to the roots of extremism that have struck deep and spread wide in one particular community because ultimately that community's votes count. The motivation behind Mr Singh's 'loss of sleep' over the 'plight' of the mother of two terrorists is all too clear.

Courtesy: www.dailypioneer.com, July 13, 2007