A leading Muslim organisation in India is making a determined bid to break down the perception that Muslims are unpatriotic or sympathise with terrorists.
'Our aim is to explain to the community that the true values of Islam do not talk about jihad as an excuse to take up arms,' said Rahamat Ali Khan, a senior leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind. The group is mobilising thousands of clerics and volunteers to impress on fellow Muslims that a correct interpretation of the religion would rebut the charge of all Muslims being fundamentalist militants.
With Hindus (80 per cent of 1.1 billion Indians) and Muslims (13 per cent) drifting apart, the campaign is long overdue.
No country could be more secular in symbol and substance. The head of state, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, is Muslim. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh belongs to the minority Sikh community. India's most powerful politician, ruling Congress party president Sonia Gandhi is an Italian-born Catholic.
Dr Singh is also proud that no member of the world's third-largest Muslim community (140 million) has joined al-Qaeda or any other international terrorist organisation.
This is in contrast to neighbouring Bangladesh and Pakistan (both Islamic nations) where Osama bin Laden's lieutenants have recruited plenty of agents. They are also thought to be active in Nepal, leaving India to some extent ringed by troublemakers.