[Reader-list] Indian Muslims are not terrorists: Farah Pandith

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Indian Muslims are not terrorists: Farah Pandith
IANS, Jul 10, 2010, 06.20pm IST

WASHINGTON: India's 160 million Muslims are not terrorists and are
tired of their community being defined as terrorists, asserts a top
Indian-American official of the Obama Administration charged with
reaching out to the community.

"I talk about the bloggers that I meet in India who are tired of
Muslims being defined as terrorists," Farah Pandith, US Special
Representative to the Muslim Community, said in a web chat Friday.

"They're getting out there and talking about what's happening in
India, with 160 million Muslims in India - all of whom, by the way,
are not terrorists, excuse me," asserted the Indian-American State
Department official.

Articulating US attempts at fostering a positive dialogue with the
world's 1.4 billion Muslims, Pandith made clear that she tries not to
speak of a single monolithic "Muslim world".

"The narrative has to change by the conversations that we are having,
and not to put everything in one big bucket, just because, obviously,
somebody maybe of one faith that does something bad does not mean that
everybody of that faith is in that same bucket," she said in response
to a question.

"We have to listen. We have to hear what it is they are experiencing.
Their expertise is better than somebody in Washington saying what must
be," said the official who has travelled to 25 countries in the last
nine months talking to Muslims.

Muslims are trying very hard to push away any kind of narrative that
would give that impression, Pandith said. "We as Muslims do not
support the use of violence in any way, shape or form.

"It's talking about diversity, and it's talking about things that this
country stands for. When we talk about the West, Muslims are part of
the West. There are 30 million Muslims in Western Europe. There are
millions of Muslims in America," she said.

"It's not us versus them," said Pandith. "It's not the West versus the
East. It's not America versus Islam. The president has talked very
clearly about the fact that Islam is part of America."

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/indians-abroad/Indian-Muslims-are-not-terrorists-Farah-Pandith-/articleshow/6152102.cms