On Tuesday (April 18), Islamist propaganda news outlet Al Jazeera courted controversy for downplaying Islamist violence in India and encouraging radicalisation in the process.
In an Instagram post, the Qatari monarchy-owned organisation wrote,
“Muslims have been subjected to violence for decades, and Indian Prime
Minister Narendra Modi has only made things worse. Using Artificial
Intelligence software, it generated scintillating images to further the
false narrative of ‘Muslim victimhood’ and ‘rising Islamophobia’ in
India.
In a total of 10 slides, Al Jazeera sought to create
hysteria about an ‘ongoing anti-Muslim campaign’ while absolving radical
Islamists of their complicity in documented acts of violence.
Downplaying the 2022 Godhra carnage
For instance, the propaganda news outlet claimed, “In 2002, 59 Hindu
Pilgrims were killed in a train fire in Gujarat State, which was blamed
on Muslims. It should be noted how Al Jazeera downplayed the incident as a ‘train fire’, thus insinuating that it might have been an accident.
Moreover, it suggested that the Muslim community was somehow
victimised as the ‘train fire’ was ‘blamed on them.’ In reality, a total
of 31 Islamists were found guilty of setting the Sabarmati Express on fire, which claimed the lives of 59 Hindus (mostly women and children).
11 of them were handed the
death penalty by a special fast-track court on March 1, 2011. Their
names include Abdul Razzak Kurkur, Ismail Suleja, Jabbir Binyamin Behra,
Ramzani Binyamin Behra, Mehboob Hassan, Siraj Bala, Irfan Kalandar,
Irfan Patadia, Hassan Lalu, Mehboob Chanda, & Salim Zarda. Their
death penalty was later commuted to a life sentence in October 2017.
Among the convicted, the other 20 were awarded life sentences. They
included Suleman Ahmad Hussain, Abdul Rehman Abdul Majid Dhantiya, Kasim
Abdul Sattar, Irfan Siraj Pado Ghanchi, Anwar Mohmmad Mehda, Siddik,
Mehboob Yakub Mitha, Soheb Yusuf Ahmed Kalandar, Saukat, Siddik Mohmmad
Mora, Abdul Sattar Ibrahim Gaddi Asla, Abdul Rauf Abdul Majid Isa, Yunus
Abdulhaq Samol, Ibrahim Abdul Razak Abdul Sattar Samol, Saukat Yusuf
Ismail Mohan, Bilal Abdullah Ismail Badam Ghanchi, Farook, Ayub Abdul
Gani Ismail Pataliya, Saukat Abdulah Maulvi Isamail Badam, Md Hanif.
As evident from the names, the extremists who burnt the train and
charred 59 Hindu pilgrims to death belonged to the Muslim community.
Despite attempts by Al Jazeera to cast aspersions on the Godhra train
carnage, the conviction of the 31 extremists will continue to show the
mirror to all conspiracy theorists that try to trivialise the planned
killing of the Hindu pilgrims.
Al Jazeera peddles lies in the name of Narendra Modi
