Page 77 - Non-violence and peace-building

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Reflections on Communal Riots

he issue that has received the greatest attention
Tfrom Indian Muslim leaders is communal riots—
violence between religious communities. Every time a
riot breaks out in which Muslims are involved, Muslim
writers and speakers are stirred into action. They
deliver impassioned speeches on the subject. They issue
statements condemning the violence. They set up relief
funds. A veritable storm of activity is set in motion in
the wake of riots. If all that had to be done to respond to
this violence is what Muslims have been doing all along,
then this sort of work has already been undertaken, and
on such a vast scale that by now such violence should
have firmly ended once and for all.
But the reality is just the opposite. The failure of all
the efforts that Muslims have hitherto made to put a
permanent end to riots very clearly shows that these
efforts are definitely not the solution to the problem. Had
they been the desired solution, the last several decades,
throughout which such efforts have consistently been
made, would have sufficed for the issue of communal
violence to be solved for good.

Reality thus demands that we should re-examine the

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