Muslim academic community worried over Indian students in Iraq

New Delhi: Islamic scholars and academics alarmed over reports that some students from their community were fighting in Iraq to set up an Islamic caliphate there are taking steps to prevent youngsters from taking up arms in the name of ideology.

Recent media reports said youngsters from at least two states, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, have gone to Iraq allegedly to fight on behalf of the rebels of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria which is seeking to overthrow the regime.

Parents of some of the youngsters last week met home minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi to request help to bring back their children from the war-torn country.

Scholars say there could be “individuals, agencies and organizations” recruiting youngsters in India and financing their travel to Iraq.

“We suspect that there are people, agencies and organizations that are provoking young students to get involved in these activities. They are recruiting students and it should be stopped. We are keeping a close watch on the development and how students are reacting to the developments in Iraq,” said Niaz Ahmed Farooqui, secretary of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, an institution of Muslim scholars.

“In case it is felt that the situation is going out of hand, we will take it at a major level, and also start talking to parents of the students in order to stop them from getting recruited by these people. It is not easy to go abroad, a lot of fund is required; so I suspect that there are people who are also funding these students to go abroad. There should be proper investigation to find out who are these people who fund students to go abroad,” he said.

If media reports were correct, it is a matter of concern for all peace-loving people of the country, Farooqui said.

Realizing that religious sensitivities have the potential to stoke passions, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU), a leading minority institution in the country, has asked its foreign students not to travel outside the campus without prior information and approval from the university administration.

“We have given advice, and issued an advisory to foreign students not to leave the campus without prior permission of the university,” said Rahat Abrar, chief spokesperson of AMU.

He said the “Iraq issue is a basic problem,” adding some students from that country are at AMU. “If they go to their country, we need to know whether they are registered in our university or not,” he said, explaining why the advisory was issued.

Islamic scholar and professor Akhtarul Wasey said attempts should be made to engage the youth in nation building, instead of wasting time and energy on what these men did, provided it was true.

“We also need to find if they went and what did they go for. Did they go there to fight against the radicalized forces because many Shia clerics in India had asked the youths to submit their passports and go to Iraq to fight?” he suggested.

Students and youngsters are influenced by several factors, including unemployment, vested interests, incompetence or the environment they live in, said Mahbubul Hoque, chairman of the Education Research and Development Foundation, a private education trust in Assam. Some wrongdoers are hampering the image of the whole community, he added.

“I believe better education is the only way out,” said Hoque, who runs a chain of higher educational institutes.

“Educational institutes have a responsibility to produce socially responsible citizens who can participate in nation- building. Blame game or religious segmentation is not good for the country.” Every teacher in his institutions has the right to talk to students and guide them against negative influences, Hoque added.

M.S. Naqvi, principal of Lucknow’s Shia PG College, said admission procedures were currently going on. “Once the process is over, we will definitely talk to the students and ask them to be wary of such wrong influence. There are several wrong influences in the society and this has emerged as one of them,” Naqvi said.

Everyone should get equal opportunities, no matter which community they belong to, and there shouldn’t be any discrimination, professor Wasey said.

Among those pursuing higher education, Muslims constitute less than 10%, according to government data.

According to the Rajinder Sachar Committee report on the state of the Muslim community, the presence of Muslims in top government jobs was minuscule—3% in the Indian Administrative Service, 1.8% in the Indian Foreign Service and 4% in the Indian Police Service.

Ashwaq Masoodi contributed to this story.