'Terrorism not a way of life in Islam'

New Delhi, May 26 (UNI) Top religious and political leaders today expressed deep concern over the growing threat of international terrorism, but deprecated the tendency to bracket the menace with Islam.

At a seminar entitled 'Islam on Terrorism', organised by the organised by the Jama Masjid United Forum (JMUF), the leaders were of the view that Islam was a religion which advocated communal amity, peace and brotherhood.

Addressing the seminar, Former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh said, ''India has all kinds of terrorist activity and organistaions. There are ULFA, Maoists, Naxalites and several others. None of them has got anything to do with Islam. It is inappropriate to link Islam with terrorism.'' ''We need to have a deeper examination into the issue and find its root which lies in redress of grievances the poor. When a government loses moral responsibility then they cannot address the grievances of the poor,'' he said.

''We do not need to learn anything from any other country to solve our internal problems, we just need to awaken ourselves.

Listen to the poor who suffer from want. The government, which does not have time to listen to the grievances of the poor and the needy, has no right to run the country,'' Mr Singh added.

Former Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid Syed Abdullah Bukhari said, ''Islam represents peace and harmony. Those who are spreading terrorism in the name of Islam are defaming this religion. They are enemies of humanity and peace. No true Muslim will ever think of taking lives of innocent people.'' Speaking on Islam often being related to terrorism, JMUF President Syed Yahya Bukhari said, ''It can be alright if a Muslim is committing mistakes, but it is painful and unacceptable that Islam is on the wrong side.'' ''First of all, we need to understand why a person becomes a terrorist and then chalk out a way to stamp out this menace of terrorism. It is natural that when there is no justice or all the avenues to get justice are blocked, dissatisfaction is bound to occur. Hence, it is important to encourage justice-loving people and bring them forth to stamp out terrorism in conjunction with the government. To achieve this , it is necessary to set out own house in order,'' Mr Bukhari said.

'' Another cause of terrorism is ignorance. Hence, ignorance and poverty are also to be stamped out to root out terrorism. For this, we need to bury our differences,'' he added.

''It is necessary to provide justice and the rule of law if we want to make this world free from terrorism and the need of justice is that cruelty must be punished and innocence must be allowed to hold high,'' the JMUF President said.

Expressing his views on the issue, Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal said, ''It is unfortunate that whenever there is an act of terrorism, it is always Muslims who are held responsible. No religion -- be it Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism or Sikhism -- can ever have any sympathy with any man who chooses to kill another human being.'' ''Any man who fears God cannot kill another man. A terrorist is not a religious person and has nothing to do with a religion,'' he added.

Other dignitaries present at the seminar were -- Sardar Trilochan Singh, JNU professor Purushottam Aggrawal, Swami Agnivesh and former Cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah, among others.

Being organised to address a growing threat of terrorism in India, the conference highlighted the challenges that the world is facing today, prepared a White Paper on terrorism to tackle the menace by addressing basic and fundamental issues and pronounced an International Declaration against terrorism.

The seminar was conducted to set the agenda for an International conference on the same topic to be held in October in New Delhi. The conference was the first initiative by Jama Masjid United Forum to fight terrorism.

UNI