There is a wise old saying....

The PEN Is Mighter than the SWORD !!!!!!

I agree.....Just read the letter down below....
You make up your own mind.....
You DECIDE.!!!!
Regards.

Arindam Bandyopadhyay is simply brilliant in his:

Open letter to Mr. Shahrukh Khan. !!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!
Wonder what the Khan and his sycophants have to say.???

Also Read:
1) Shahrukh's Message to Muslims @ http://groups. yahoo.com/ group/Writers_ Foru
m/message/ 49198
2) A German's View @ http://worldmonitor .wordpress. com/2008/ 08/15/a-germans
- view/
Your name is a household phenomenon in India and even beyond her borders. Your f
ame has put you in the Newsweek "most powerful people list" recently.
However, as you may recall from your recent experience in New Jersey Airport, re
al life is a little different - it does not always follow the path predicted by
a scriptwriter or director.
Of late, we have been reading about your opinions and statements on matters beyo
nd the celluloid world. Nothing is wrong in it. You live in a free, democratic c
ountry and are entirely entitled to your opinion. But as a common man, also from
the same soil, I think I have the right too to raise a few points that may not
conform to your views of the real world.
I hope you will read it out.
When recently, the Pakistani players were not selected for the IPL, it was almos
t predictable that NDTV, the award-winning, mouthpiece of our Indian liberal med
ia select you for your views and you certified that "Pakistan is a great neighbo
ur to have India and Pakistan are great neighbours. They are good neighbours."
I have a few words to say about those statements.
One may recall your effort to clarify the Pakistani team captain, Shoaib Malik"s
apology to the Muslims, living all over the world, for failing to win the final
T20 match against India, likely much to the embarrassment of a lot of Indian Mu
slims, as expressed by Shamin Bano, mother of the man of the match, Irfan Pathan
.
What was more embarrassing was your effort to try to defend Shoaib in a subseque
nt interview, "I don"t think he meant to segregate Muslims and Christians and Hi
ndus and say this was a match between Islam and Hinduism. I don"t think that..."
I doubt whether Shoaib talked to you personally about his thought process at tha
t time. You did not really have to respond for somebody else but perhaps you cou
ld not resist the temptation to show your brotherhood and solidarity.
This reminds us again of Dr Ambedkar"s observation that, "The brotherhood of Isl
am is not the universal brotherhood of man. It is brotherhood of Muslims for Mus
lims only."
Partition of India was what Pakistan wanted and got. It was painful to millions
but many more millions in present India have been spared. Since then Pakistan ha
s offered us only hatred. It has imposed on us three major wars, the Kargil insu
rgency, the Kashmir conflict, the series of serial blasts, the routine violation
of border ceasefires, attacks on the Parliament House and the recent Mumbai 26/
11attack.
Did you have these in mind when you talked about them being good neighbours?
In another interview you had tried to explain the concept of Islamic Jihad. "I t
hink one needs to understand the meaning of jihad .. I"ve understood the essence
that jihad is not about killing other people; jihad is about killing the badnes
s in you."
May be you understand jihad better and deeper than the superficial meaning of wh
at we, the rest of the mortal mankind, overburdened and terrorized by the inter-
religious, intra-religious and sectarian violence that is plaguing the world in
the name of Islam today, do. For we, the less educated, cannot really make a dif
ference between Jihad and Qatl, between Jihad by heart / soul, Jihad by pen and
Jihad by sword or between lesser and greater jihad.
We wonder, whatever its meaning may be, does it minimize the significance of the
mindless killings that we see today in the name of Islam, across borders, all o
ver the world? Does it change the nature of the killers whether you call them ho
ly warriors, mujahidins, fedayeens or plane suicide bombers?
We agree with you that terrorism has no religion. But hopefully you will also ag
ree with the people who perceive that most terrorist in the world today happen t
o believe in the scriptures of Islam. They actually believe that they themselves
are the true Islamists.
The so called "moderate" Islamist, perhaps does not want to contradict them or m
ay be does not dare to speak out against them. You have probably not forgotten t
he FIR against you for listing Prophet Mohammed as one of the most unimpressive
personalities in history, the threats from which you had to skillfully wriggle o
ut. Others who are not so fortunate, famous or flexible are suffering lifetime,
as Tasleema Nasreen or Salman Rushdie would testify. For blasphemy in Islam is p
unishable with death, even for a believer.
Do I have to spell out the fate if it is a non-believer?
It is due to the inherent intolerance and exclusivity of Islam itself despite yo
ur effort to convince us that there is an Islam from Allah and very unfortunatel
y, there is an Islam from the Mullahs
Here is an historical insight from writer Irfan Hussain, "The Muslim heroes who
figure larger than life in our history books committed some dreadful crimes..all
have blood-stained hands that the passage of years has not cleansed. Indeed, th
e presence of Muslim historians on their various campaigns has ensured that the
memory of their deeds will live long after they were buried...Seen through Hindu
eyes, the Muslim invasion of their homeland was an unmitigated disaster."
So why should the "non-believers" care to accept them? Why should the majority o
f Indians like to welcome back such disasters again?
Since partition, India has come a long way in progress and development to her cu
rrent status and is projected as an economic superpower in coming decades while
Pakistan is perceived as a failed state on the verge of disintegration.
What does India have to gain by offering neighbourly friendship to such a hostil
e and failed state?
India has never been an invader and is not in conflict of any other Muslim count
ry. None of the wars and conflicts with Pakistan was instigated by India. In the
current geopolitical situation, one can argue for the Muslim world"s grudge and
anger against Israel or the west and USA but one fail to fathom why India shoul
d also be at the receiving end and why Indians should be the second largest grou
p of people to die from terrorists attacks. Indian majorities do not have anythi
ng to do with the Danish cartoon or the death of Saddam Hussain; so why should t
hey suffer from Islamic havoc on those occasions.
In almost all occasions of terrorism, questions are raised about possible role o
f Pakistan, its terror bases and its terrorist organizations, as either directly
or indirectly involved. Be it state sponsored (as recently admitted by Presiden
t Zardari) or by non-state actors, Pakistan or Pakistani born are prime suspect
in terrorist activities all over the world. ISI has been accused of playing a ro
le in major terrorist attacks including 9/11 in the USA, terrorism in Kashmir, M
umbai Train Bombings, London Bombings, Indian Parliament Attack, Varanasi bombin
gs, Hyderabad bombings, Mumbai terror attacks or the attack on the Indian embass
y in Kabul.
Do you believe these are marks of a good neighbour? Then what is the reason for
your preaching of love towards Pakistan?
Perhaps, as you said, because it is your ancestor"s homeland, you have a soft fe
eling for Pakistan and cannot see the difference. On the eve of accepting an hon
orary doctorate from a British university, we heard you say, "I really believe w
e are the same ..when you come away from India or Pakistan you realize there is
no Indian or Pakistani - we"re all together. We are - culturally, as human being
s, as friends"
Which Pakistanis are you referring to?
The Pakistanis belonging to the land, admonished as the epicenter of global terr
orism, not just by India or USA but even by its friendly allies like Iran or Chi
na.
Or is it the self-created, Talibanic Pakistan, who still imposes Jijya on the no
n believers or finds pleasure in blowing up girl"s schools.
Are you talking about its President class like the current Mr. Zardari, vowed to
wage a 1,000-year war with India or the late Mrs. Bhutto who started Jihad in K
ashmiri that lead to the exodus of Hindu minorities from the Muslim majority sta
te of India, as refugees in their own country?
Are you referring to Pakistanis loyal to the ISI and the military who train thei
r soldiers with only one objective, i.e. to fight Hindu India?
If your mind is concerned about the faceless mass of Pakistanis, does it also in
clude the dwindling minorities?
Or are you just concerned about the celebrities and the social elites?
It is true SRK that we belong to the same human species but it is hard to stretc
h the similarities much further between "us" and "them".
We from the same original land of Bharat but we want to keep her intact, they wa
nt to break it into thousand pieces.
Our ancestors happen to be the same. We acknowledge and adore the heritage but t
hey abhor and decimate whoever is available in an attempt to wipe out the link.
We are culturally the same. We have created the culture over centuries what they
dream to destroy in moments.
Ours is a 10,000 year old civilization, theirs is a 62 years old country undoing
whole human civilization.
We extend our hands repeatedly to promote friendship and amity; they give us ISI
, Lashkar, Harkat, Kashmir, Kargil and 26/11 in exchange.
Do you think that the Indians nationals who died in all the above wars, the Indi
an soldiers who lost their lives in cross-border ceasefire violations or the Ind
ian civilians who are killed by the ISI trained Islamic terrorists and their aff
iliates, in all those serial blasts, all over the country, willfully sacrificed
their lives as a friendly neighbourhood gesture?
Can you face the families of the victims of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus or the
martyrs of the Kargil war and try to explain to them that "They are good neighbo
urs. Let us love each other."
Can you explain why the two gunmen at Cama hospital, during the Mumbai carnage,
asked the man who gave them water, what his religion was, and shot him dead when
he said he was a Hindu?
If you cannot, then perhaps you understand why the majority of India does not co
nsider Pakistan as a good neighbour to have.
Perhaps you believe that the peaceful religious co-existence that you created in
your home (and we appreciate that) can be extended to the large world outside.
As you rightly said, we Indians trust and do accept everybody but what you did f
ail to mention was that it is the Indic tradition, essentially coming out of its
pre-Islamic Hindu ethos.
If you think otherwise, show us a single Islamic country where the non-believers
enjoy the same equality as the believers. Since partition, the Hindus left over
in Pakistan and Bangladesh has suffered terribly. Strictly Islamic countries, l
ike Saudi Arabia, do not allow any other religions to exist. Hindus working in t
he Gulf countries are not allowed to practice their religion in public. Saudi Ar
abia insists that India sends only a Muslim ambassador. Hindu Muslim unity by an
d large has generally been a matter of Hindus trying to please or accommodate Mu
slims. One cannot forget when Vajpayee was extending his hand for peace Musharra
f was planning the Kargil insurgency.
Let us remind you, your own statement "I am a Muslim in a country called India .
We"ve never been made to feel this is a Hindu country."
Can you find me a Hindu in Pakistan who can reciprocate that sentiment?
Some years ago, another Mr. Khan, first name Feroze, from your fraternity was ba
nned from entering Pakistan for saying, "India is secular unlike Pakistan".
That is the basic difference of the land of "Hindu" India from the Islamic "pure
land" of Pakistan.
So please do not ask us to love Pakistan.
Please do not lump the people of India and Pakistan together. We Indians are pro
ud to preserve our separate identity.
And please do not insult the land that gave you your life, name and fame, by cla
iming that her worst enemy, who wants to break her into 1000 pieces, is a great
neighbour.
Otherwise it would be sad if somebody accuses you of putting your religion ahead
of your country.
Please give it a thought.
Regards,
Arindam Bandyopadhyay.