Two Faces of India

Most of the foriegn media is ignorant and does not understand the eastern culture and the islamic idealogies. This is is dumb interpretation to count a bunch of fanatic and mindless group as part of the millions of muslims and india and call them as being oppressed.

Its always been, India and Hindus in India doing the wrong. and yeah since Pakistan has always been USA 's strategic partner in this part of the world, their press will never find fault with Pakistan, whatever they do. US can attack Iraq and Afghanistan for 9/11, but India should restrain. Wow, typical American Hypocrisy, Well Sameer, sorry but. you are just kissing the behinds of your Bosses in the US with this article. And as far DISAFFECTED muslims are considered. in India. then there are more Disaffected non muslims in this country, who have not resorted to terror. Pakistan and Bangladesh was carved out of India. in the 60 years of Independence which of these 2 countries has grown in leaps and bounds, which of these are muslim majority countries, which of these countries has the lowest living standards ??? Can you blame minority hindus in pakistan and bangladesh for them being DISAFFECTED ?? Whatever they are they have brought it upon themselves. I am no Hindu fanatic, am just an average Indian, over the years i have never noticed any kind of discrimination towards muslims, they have been given equal opportunities in that case the low caste Hindus should be the ones to be the biggest terror elements in this country. The muslims they prefer to live in ghetto colonies, prefer to be butchers and lowly paid workers and blame their plight on the non believers. Whatever they are, its their own making, they need to change their mindset and accept others as well. one question before i close ,Sameer have you ever lived in India ? or have seen India through exotic books and commenteries by western researchers. ????

Terrible, terrible rationalization of this tragedy. Only a dumb-ass will attribute this to marginalization of the muslims, please note that the vast majority of the folks who are poor and sufferring from bad governance are Hindus, and nobody decided to pick up guns and kill innocent folks.
Newsweek - Please do not publish such pathetic articles..

The writer forgot an important Point. Since 40 Years I ndia has been preaching Family Planning, and most Indians who understood it became a two/three Children, and by that improved their economic condition. That includes enlightened Muslims. Unfortunately most of average Muslim does not beleive to come in the way of God's will, and practice Family Planning. Hence they continue to get poorer. How can they enjoy fruits of Indian Economy when two square meals to 10 in the family is an issue. It creates school dropouts, Auto Drivers, mechanics and other lower strata of vibrant society. Who is to be blamed???

What an incredibly pathetic, inane piece of writing! Your complete ignorance is encapsulated by the phrase "where Muslims and Indians often live side by side". Your mindset is the exact antithesis of India's identity as a melting pot of cultures, and contributes directly to the alienation of the Muslim minority for whom you claim to feel such sympathy!

Good Grief. Doyou really think this radicalism is all socio-economic? How little the author clearly uunderstands the theological/political implications as well as motivations in the die hard Islamic terrorist. Money is inconsequential to many of them clearly but the probabilty of the authors underlying premise of cause as well as solution is nothing short of pacifistic parochialism.

The author is correct that the outcome of political solutions are of enormous magnitude. One hopes those involved can see that mutual acceptance rather then age old animosities, hatreds and theo-political struggles are the best way forward for all.

Jeff Dahlgren
Phoenix, Arizona

Sameer is right. These disaffected youth with Ak47s and hand-grenades, Versace t-shirts and jeans were representing the 140 million Indian Muslims. In a country where you have 16 national languages, 200 dialects and a multitude of religions, and everyone becomes a minority as soon as you move out of your state or country..almost everybody is susceptible to be disaffected. 61 years after partition, the Indian muslims were suddenly enlightened that they are poor and should resort to terrorism...this is dangerous because it is likely to inspire the other half-a-billion non-muslim-as-poor-indians to do the same and resort to terrorism.

The African-Americans in US or other western countries, who couldn't even vote till the 60's, unlike Indian muslims and were enslaved for few centuries...must feel dumb to not have used guns and hand-grenades, sucicide bombing or terrorism to express themselves. What about the lower-caste Hindus....why couldn't they think like the 9/11 "disaffected" hijackers, some of who had average engineering degrees from Germany.

Sameer, I like the way you think and you rationalize thought....I believe you are being underpaid by Newsweek given that you have a south-asian name...maybe you should join the International Arms Movement of Disaffected Youth with Asian Names ...our head-office is in....well we go by different names and keep shifting our head office and phone numbers....as of today you can call 1-800-IMI-DIOT.

Good Grief. Doyou really think this radicalism is all socio-economic? How little the author clearly uunderstands the theological/political implications as well as motivations in the die hard Islamic terrorist. Money is inconsequential to many of them clearly but the probabilty of the authors underlying premise of cause as well as solution is nothing short of pacifistic parochialism.

The author is correct that the outcome of political solutions are of enormous magnitude. One hopes those involved can see that mutual acceptance rather then age old animosities, hatreds and theo-political struggles are the best way forward for all.

Jeff Dahlgren
Phoenix, Arizona

This kind of acts is a 'trademark'' for moslem community. It is not about social or economic injustice, it's about their teaching. No moslem should obey rules imposed by them from non-moslem. It is also related to "syiar" and "syariah". Anywhere in the world, if moslem population (in a non-moslem country) has grown large enough, then they try to build their own country, by any means, peaceful or by force, as we can see in China (southern part), Thailand, India (Kashmir), or Phillipines. No wonder Islam is the fastest-growing religion.

Yes, it is sad to continue to see the same reasons trotted out to explain this violence. It has nothing to do with "fitting in" or equity. It is a symptom of what is taught by believers of the religion. To continue to try and assuage or appease those that do not want to get along, but to constantly break away or take over real estate is simply stupid. Like all beliefs, there are those that would like to get along, but they are left with a no-win scenario. They will be distrusted by non-Muslims and Muslims alike. Which is also exactly what the proponents of such violence want.

I wholeheartedly agree. The truth is that one cannot ignore the disenfranchisement of others and expect to live unscathed. Never use what is done to one as a basis for hatred. Never desire revenge.
It requires real strength to love Man. And to love him despite all invitations to do otherwise, all provocations and all reasons why one should not.
Happiness and strength endure only in the absence of hate. To hate alone is the road to disaster. To love is the road to strength. To love in spite of all is the secret of greatness. And may very well be the greatest secret in this universe.??? said a friend of mine. The cries of hatred should be ignored.

I am appalled by the comments of Mr. Sameer Reddy.
As a Mumbaiite, I share my locality with not only Muslims, but Jains, Sikhs and various other religions.
They are more than welcome into my household as I am in theirs.
Mr. Reddy would have us believe that we are on the verge of slitting each other's throats.
Such dastardly acts, dont alienate us but rather bring us much closer.

I am appalled by the lack of truth in the article written by Mr. Sameer Reddy.
As a Mumbaiite, we not only share our localities with Muslims but also welcome them in our houses and which is done likewise by them.
He would make us believe that we are on the verge of slitting each others throats. To tell the truth, such incidents make all of us come closer to respect the freedom that we all share in this country.

The naivety spouted here is laughable. Think of the Islamic populations of The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, England...not only have they had the services of those countries handed to them on sliver platters, but in addition entirely new services have been created solely for their advantage. Their "radicalization" is happening there and virtually everywhere else in the world because that is their reason for being.

Ignorant, pandering proponents of "multiculturalism" and "dialogue" -- wake up!

Sameer Reddy, and like, appearing these days in the western media must be on some kind of payroll to propagate utter falsehood against India and its ideals. It is deliberate and and biased attack on Indian state, deadlier that the recent terrorist attacks. Did Mr. Reddy ever write about discrimination of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangaladesh. About lact of religious and cultural freedom in the Islamic countries. The problem here is Islam. The very philosophy and belief system of Islam which is so narrow, so closed, it is not even worth naming religion. If any, Islam is religion of violence. What communism stands for interms of political freedom, Islam stands for religion. It is plain eveident that the whole world is being infested and infected by these muslims. Connecting these terror attacks to economy, is simply justification of this terrorist religion. Only longerterm solutions, is to flush out all muslims out of India. In fact they should have been deported to Pakistan as soon as these Muslims were given seperate muslim stated out of otherwish Hindu India. Now we are waiting for a leader and a political party to undertake this incomplete task. Mr. Reddy, we very well understand your intent, and who you are directed by. We know how to solve our problem and portect our nation and our values. Wait, time will show you all this.

People like Sameer Reddy and Fareed Zakaria on the rolls of Newsweek. What a combination of Hindu - Muslim secular unity and both well wishers of this land. Fantastic! Keep it up Newsweek. You are sure to go places.

this is most riduculous piece of journalism i have read. muslims need to stop sending their kids to madrassas, stop listening to their fanatic leaders, stop being fearful of their faith. and start being pluralistic. tell me one nation where there are islam and democracy side by side??? and keep turkey out of it because that is a very big exceptions which keeps getting challenged anyway.

clearly the writer lives in a dream land.most of 911 terrorists were well educated and not from poverty.Binladen & his # 2 Al-zawahri are wealthy and highly educated. London suicide bombers are it-professionals & doctors. The 100's of muslim men who were born & brought up in UK wearing jeans & T'shirts were boldly saying on BBC that they want Sharia law in UK and then the rest of the world.wake-up guys its not education in colleges or paychecks that they take home it is ideology that they believe in because of their religion and the word of the local mullah at the mosque is wot they will follow.
its time 2 face the reality and cut the BS, this is not a beauty pageant where u should use the write words as if u r above the rest of the world who gets angry, come down 2 mother earth.India has seen prosperity in recent years coz it got away from the Nehrus's Socialist ideology. The private sector has no reservations (unlike govt. organisations where muslims do enjoy minority previleges) so they have succeeded. india is struggling for years 2 get rid of reservations the last thing u want is 2 encourage it. Muslims also enjoy "Sharia" law...wot more is the writer expecting??....AN