Gul Panag dropped an intellectual bombshell yesterday (Nov 28) when we called her, surprising the nation with her vision and comment on the Mumbai bombings. She quoted, I don’t know how my comments will be taken by you but this had to happen and is not a complete surprise. Me and you only take notice of terror when it enters the malls or the hotels. But if the same thing happens in the slums we are ok with it. This is a much larger issue than it looks. Have you ever taken into consideration the Islamic population of India? It’s in the region of 18 to 20%. The figures keep on varying. Do you know what percent of Islamic population is living below the poverty line? It’s 40%. I am not a fundamentalist but I am looking at a much bigger picture. There are certain segments of the society which have not got its due, whether you agree or not. But if you look at the demographics, you’ll understand. Whatever the population of Muslims in India, is that population proportionate and reflect in the jobs of this country? When people are poor and have no where to go, they have no choice but to turn into radicals. I hope my views and comments make people understand the broader picture.

Gul’s comment ignited anger demanding an explanation to the above quote. While some demanded an explanation to her remark, others said it wasn’t enough, and some even agreed to what she said. One of the replies to her quote on Bollywood Hungama said, I do agree with what Gul is trying to say, people are just taking it wrongly. Islam doesn’t teach violence and neither does it allow innocent killings and mass murders. When Muslims do something like this in terms of revenge, they are called terrorists but when Hindus, Jews and Christians do it, they are called Freedom Fighters. Debashri, one of the surfers of Bollywood Hungama who thinks that Gul’s comment was a flaw, said, It’s not because of poverty that some Muslims take the fundamentalist route. Then we would have had an equal number of Hindu terrorists too. I think we have made a habit out of making terrorists look like victims! It is fashionable to side with them. Do we then take out guns and start killing people? No. The trouble is the indoctrination that takes place. Another surfer Roopa also disagrees. She said, Poverty doesn’t justify the birth of radicalism. Many terrorists are rich and come from educated backgrounds (Osama). If people feel the government isn’t helping them, it is up to them to educate themselves and grow. A surfer with the user id ‘Mamuh’ who sides Panag, said, I like Gul’s view (as it) was very much well thought-out and accurate. We can’t stump terrorism, until we see the root of it. Injustice like Gujarat Riots or Orissa Riots need to stop. When significant politician(s) turn a blind eye and something drastic happens. India just sucks if you’re a poor or a minority.

So when the actress got up this morning and logged on to Bollywood Hungama, she was taken by surprise to read comments posted by users on her quote. This got Gul to write even more. Within 10 minutes, the actress sent us what she thought of the above reactions and many more posted their views on the website. This is what she had to say:

Poor and disenfranchised Hindus/Sikhs/Christians are not the ones being radicalized. There is no planned sustained movement in place to do so. India has the second largest population of Muslims in the world. Yet their representation in all walks of public life remains dismal (what ever the reasons). A disproportionate chunk of the Muslim population lives below the poverty line. These people are the ones the radicals target as their recruiting ground.

Yes, there are rich who also get involved. The percentage is small. The machinery in place that goes about recruiting these people is very advanced and unscrupulous. They are highly motivated by people whose full time job is to mislead these people. Their modus operandi is to show videos of Muslims being tortured /killed/women being raped, and other forms of propaganda. In Punjab ( I am a Sikh from a village in Punjab called Mahadian, Distt Fategarh Sahib), many youngsters from well to do families after seeing their relatives/ kin burnt alive by mobs, tortured and raped by the forces were badly shaken up. Psychologically numb. And were ready when extremists came knocking on their doors to garner support. As for the security lapses, I am sure there are many loop holes. We apart from being a booming economy are also a country of the poor and homeless, (who’s primary focus is two square meals). We are NOT the United States, where we can single mindedly pursue security). But having said that, it’s important to understand, that not even the best trained force in the world can be prepared for someone who is ready to kill himself. The terrorist wins by not losing/dying (for whatever short period he wreaks havoc) and the forces lose by not winning immediately (ultimately they do in a Mumbai like scenario, but not in JK, Iraq). And how can I be biased? Because I am in Indian and believe that the same set of rules must apply to all? So Muslims who kill people are terrorists but Bajran Dal/RSS activists who burn Christian homes, rape nuns are angry misguided youth?? My father is a serving army officer; he has 40 years of service to the nation and is currently posted as Army Commander Central Command, at the very tip of the army pyramid. He also served as Northern Army Commander. I have been brought up in the most secular way possible, where I have observed at close quarters what the army does for the Nation. And it pains me to read about people pointing fingers at the forces being inefficient when they constantly give away their today for us to be able to blog like this, sleep peacefully and enjoy life as we know it.

As far as the economy goes, if I have money, I need to spend it. I’m not saying I need to spend myself into debt, just that if I have extra money, I shouldn’t hoard it. Face it, our economy relies on us spending money. That’s the way it works, unless you want socialism or communism. Even under those systems, nothing is free. You give all your money to the government and they give you substandard health-care or other government run systems. Why do you think all the socialists & communists come to America? They come for profit, education and health-care!

For those of you out there who don’t think people are trying to destroy America and what we stand for, here’s a quote from Michael Moore:

“I say We’re seeing the end of capitalism, and I say good-riddance”

So why do you live in America and soak us for our dollars?

We need to stop complaining about big business making a profit. Do we cry about Tiger Woods making 10 million dollars a year? People complain about corporate profit or CEO greed, but don’t mind giving baseball players 65 million dollar contracts. If I want more money, I’d better earn it, and not demand that government finance me. Big business should pay us fair wages, that’s a fact, but they shouldn’t be taxed more just because they are more successful.

As for President-elect Barack Obama, he will be the unborn’s worst enemy in the history of mankind. As a matter of fact, I’m sure he’s going to send the gestapo after us just for speaking about his pro-abortion stance.

In this time of Thanksgiving, it’s important to keep our eyes on what is real. In my opinion, Here are some of those things:

God - Thank God for helping me in my ongoing struggle against abortion and human killing research. It’s a blessing to be able to pray and draw strength from my creator.

Life - I need to speak and pray for the unborn every single day. We all can do this, either through our websites, blogs, friends, emails, t-shirts, pins…whatever. They only have us, and if we are silent, they die alone.

Family and friends - Even if people close to me disagree with me on the life issue, they are still my family, and I need to remember this and keep them close. Remember, preaching to the choir is easy, but finding ways to help people find Christ and respect the unborn is a challenge.

Action - My action is what is needed to keep evil in check. Believing in God is a great thing, but God is counting on me to defend the helpless. I absolutely believe that God wants US to end abortion now. It’s been thirty-five years and fifty million people have been killed by their mothers using abortion, prenatal murder, in America. We have created a nation of killers, and most women who have had abortions probably know it.

I need to pray for the women who have had abortions, for women who are considering it, for the men who push their wives and girlfriends into this horrible “choice”, for the men who had no choice, and yes, even the abortionists and their support staff.

Here are some ways to get involved:

> Monthly Call for Life - once a month calls and letters to our representatives on every first Friday - callforlife.us

> Every first Saturday following the first Friday, pray and/or sidewalk counsel at an abortion mill. Go to ProLifeUnity.com and click on our calendar to find one in your state. If you need help, email us.

> Prayer Pivot - once a month around the clock & around the globe prayers for the sanctity of life from 12:00 am every first Friday until 12:00 am the next day. Pray for however long you want for any time zone. - prayerpivot.com

> Action Code - Our script on the left at ProLifeUnity.com shows the most current Pro-Life Action Calls in America. If you have a website and want to help, send an email to contact@prolifeunity.com.

Thank God we have freedom of speech, and thank God for our willingness to help the helpless.

Pro-Life Unity

United we stand - Divided they die

God Bless America!

Peter