Forgot your password?
Why Al-Qaeda Finds No Recruits In India
By Andrew North, BBC News, Mumbai and Delhi
BBC NEWS, INDIA
December 4, 2012: Muslims remain a marginalized minority in India although minority seems the wrong word for a group that numbers nearly 180 million, making India the third largest Muslim nation in the world after Indonesia and next-door Pakistan. Yet while its neighbor is in constant turmoil because of Islamic extremism, it's striking how little it has emerged in India.
"Fundamentalism has not taken root here," says Vikram Sood, the former head of India's foreign intelligence service. While there have been bombings claimed by indigenous groups such as the Indian Mujahideen, they have been few and far between and there is no sign it has significant support. The biggest attacks in India involving Muslims have had clear evidence of Pakistani involvement. Despite having 10% of the world's Muslims to recruit from, al-Qaeda has made no headway here. And no Indian Muslim has gone to fight in Afghanistan with the Taliban. "Or even Kashmir," adds Sood.
It's much harder for any cohesive Islamic identity let alone militant ideology to gain ground in India's huge and diverse society where Muslims share little except their faith. So a Muslim from Kerala in the south who may be descended from seafarers has more in common with Hindus or Christians in the state than he does with Muslims from Uttar Pradesh in the north.
The widespread adherence to more moderate, inclusive Sufi Islamic teachings have also helped stall the emergence of militancy.
The government also has a tighter hold on madrassas or religious schools, which in Pakistan have become bedrock of recruits for the Taliban and others.
Looking across their borders to its majority-Muslim neighbors, Indian Muslims have concluded they are better off here, argues Najeeb Jung, Vice Chancellor of Delhi's Jamia Millia University. "The big watershed was 1971," he says, when Bangladesh broke away from Pakistan. "If ever there was a romance with Pakistan, it was over then."
Dr Jung is less gloomy about Muslims here, believing "they are faring as well or as badly as everyone else". But therein lies the danger. The economy has sagged badly in the past year with no sign yet it has bottomed out.
"If we get the economy going again," says Vikram Sood, "all these issues will wither away. If it doesn't happen, they will multiply, disproportionately."
