India's Muslims say no burial for 'demon' gunmen
By Krittivas Mukherjee
December 3, 2008
Tuesday in India, Mumbai’s highest ranked clerics stated that they were not going to allow nine Islamist militants to be buried in any Muslim cemetery. These militants have been blamed for killing one hundred eighty three people in three days last week. These high ranking clerics stated “their acts were an affront to Islam.” This was decided at a meeting in the state of Maharashtra and Mumbai is the capital.
Although in the past when Muslim attackers were killed carrying out their attacks they were allowed to be buried in a Muslim cemetery. These burials according to the Muslim tradition were usually done within a few hours of death. A leader who attended the meeting said those who are capable of such attacks cannot be Muslim, even if they call themselves one.
There were ten Islamist militants. They used AK-47s as well as grenades to attack some of Mumbai’s best known hotels and other famous landmarks. This city has 18 million people. With Muslim’s being the least amount of the population. This attack finally ended after sixty hours. A 10th attacker was arrested. This is upsetting the Muslim community because they feel it looks bad on them every time an Islamist carries out an attack in the country. The highest ranked clerics stand by their decision they don’t offer a solution to where these attackers are buried. They say it’s up to the government.
I find that these attacks are happening all over the country and it almost always has to deal with a religion. It appears all the different religious groups mostly in India right now are being attacked. I have been doing my current event focusing mainly on the Christians in India and now it appears that these attacks are spread out among all the religions there.
Nicole Bopp
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