By Kashif-ul-huda
TwoCircles.net

Urdu writer, Musharraf Alam Zauqui, is based in the city of Delhi, India. For decades he has been writing on the condition of Muslims in India, their identity issues and their status in the social and political canvas of India. Zauqi has also been successful in writing about the ever-changing modern society, brought about by phenomenal scientific and technological advances.

Zauqi spoke to our sister publication Urdustan.com on the topic of the backdrop of fake encounter revelations and the Hyderabad bomb blasts. Writers mirror the society they live in and they have unique insight into the society's psyche. They can see the trends long before they are visible to the general public. Musharraf Alam Zauqui, who has a deep sense of history, can also provide a historical perspective on issues affecting the Muslims of India. Therefore, we decided to call him up and we talked to him about his novels and saw whether his characters and their conditions mirror the reality of Indian Muslims.

You can listen to the complete interview in Urdu on the player below this article. Zauqui started out by what he termed a 'grave mistake' by Indian Muslim leadership to start calling Muslims a minority. He
argued that for such a large population, which is greater than in many other countries of the world, cannot be called a minority.

Mr. Zauqui agreed that it is possible that some parties may try to exploit this statement. But if Muslims stopped calling themselves Minorities (don’t you mean MINORITIES) it can be a medicinal 'capsule' that will give Muslims who live in small towns and villages of India confidence that he or she is
part of a substantial group. It will give them courage and strength, this concept unfortunately is still not understood by Muslim leaders.

Muslims who have been part of the landscape of India for hundreds of years, have been forced to live on the margin and have been systematically removed from the mainstream. In 1857, soldiers of Meerut chose an old Muslim king as their leader, but now after 150 years Muslims have no
leadership to offer.

Talking about the political process in India, Zauqi pointed to the fact that if there are only 40% of people voting in the election, then MPs and MLAs who get elected cannot claim to be representing the majority of the people. "Common Indians who are Muslims, Hindus, and Christians have
been reduced to become a mute spectator. People, who get elected, organize fake encounters, play political games and in the process create tensions between communities."

Appreciating the roles played by the print and electronic media, he said there are people who are fighting for just cause on behalf of the Muslims. He says that the courts are also part of this struggle. But Muslims need to come forward in this struggle and be visible.

"It seems that Urdu writers have written least on the topic of Indian Muslims." Lamenting this fact, Zauqi appreciats what has been written about Muslims in different Indian languages. He called Kamleshwar's 'kitne pakistan' as one of the finest pieces of literature written in India. "It should be a recommended read for every Indian person", Zauqui added.

You can read his novel musalman here: http://urdustan.com/kitaab/musalman

Listen to his interview: