'Appeased','anti-national'-- double burden for Muslims: Sachar

New Delhi, Dec 13 (UNI) The issue of 'patriotism' is today one of the main causes of the unease of Muslims in the social, cultural and public interactive spaces in the country, says the Sachar Committee report on the status of the community submitted to the Prime Minister recently.

The community carries a double burden of being labelled as ''anti-national'' and being ''appeased'' at the same time.

While the alleged appeasement has not resulted in the desired level of socio-economic development of Muslims, they need to prove on a daily basis that they are not anti-national'' and ''terrorists'', says the report while underlining public perceptions and perspectives regarding the community in the introductory chapter.

The committee found most of the Muslims complaining that they were constantly looked upon with great degree of suspicion not only by certain sections of the society but also by public institutions and governance structures.

Many of them felt that the media also tended to perpetuate this stereotypical image of Muslims.

''This had a depressing effect on their psyche,'' said the Report.

It found that markers of Muslim identity--the burqa, purdah, beard and the topi--while adding to the distinctiveness of the community, have been a cause of concern for it in the public realm.

These markers have very often been a target for ridiculing the community and suspecting their character.

Muslim men donning a beard and a topi are often picked up for interrogation from public spaces like parks, railway stations and markets.

Some women, who interacted with the Committee told it how in corporate offices, hijab wearing women were finding it increasingly difficult to find jobs.

Muslim identity affects everyday living in a variety of ways that ranges from being unable to rent/buy a house to accessing good schools for their children, the report said.

Buying or renting property in localities of one's choice is becoming increasingly difficult for Muslims. Apart from reluctance of owners to rent or sell to them, several housing societies in non-Muslims localities dissuade them from settling there.

The report says that any threat to the identity of the community was having very adverse effect on its women.

A gender based fear of the public experienced to some degree by all women was magnified manifold in the case of Muslims.

''The lines between 'safe' and 'unsafe' becomes rigid. The community and its women withdraw into the safety of familiar orthodoxies, reluctant to participate in the projects of modernity which threatens to blur community boundaries,'' it said.

The Sachar Commmittee found that the fear about security was leading to ghettoisation of the community, and it was more pronounced in communally sensitive towns and cities.

However, it said, Muslims felt that while living in ghettos seems to be giving them a sense of security because of their numerical strength, it was proving disadvantageous to them in many ways, as living in concentrated pockets had made them easy target of neglect by municipal and government authorities.

The Committee found that the feeling of being a victim of discriminatory attitude was high among Muslim youth.

From poor civic amenities in Muslims localities, non-representation in positions of political power and bureacracy to police atrocities committed against them-- the perception of being discriminated against was overpowering amongst a wide section of Muslims.

Besides, there is a perception that the socio-cultural diversity of India was often not articulated in school text books.

''This sense of discrimination combined with issues of identity and insecurity has led to an acute sense of inferiority in the community which comes in the way of its full participatioon in the public arena and results in collective alienation,'' the Report said.

UNI NAZ MSJ GC1635