US-based Islamist outfits, such as Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and Indian American Muslim Council (IAMC) have cried foul after a mobile billboard truck displayed images of the 26/11 terror attack in New Jersey.
On the 14th anniversary of the dastardly attack on the Indian financial capital Mumbai, Indian Americans took out demonstrations outside the Pakistan Community centre in New Jersey. A total of 165 people died on November 26, 2008, after Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists from Pakistan went on a killing spree in Mumbai.
United States | Indian Americans & South Asian Diaspora protested against the 26/11 #MumbaiTerrorAttack in front of the Pakistan Consulate in New York. Demonstrations also took place in front of the Pakistan Consulate in Houston, Chicago & Pakistan Community Centre in New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/iuWRhnnvUe
— ANI (@ANI) November 27, 2022
As per an article in the Middle East Eye, the New Jersey unit of CAIR has alleged that a mobile billboard truck, broadcasting images of the Mumbai terror attack, entered the parking lot of the New Brunswick Islamic Center and the Muslim Center of Middlesex County.
The Islamist outfit also claimed that the vehicle stopped outside the Muslim Community of New Jersey Masjid. CAIR took offence at the display of the names of the LeT terrorists (referred to as ‘suspects’ in the article) and scenes from the deadly terror attack.
While calling the movement of the vehicle ‘deliberate and well co-ordinated’, CAIR criticised the broadcast of 26/11 footage as ‘messages of hate.’ This was despite the fact that the mobile billboard truck did not display anything contentious but the truth.
“Mumbai 26/11: We won’t forgive. We won’t forget,” read one sign on the truck. Another sign emphasised, “Men, women, and children or elderly, no one was spared by LeT terrorists who entered India via sea on a boat.” The Council for American Islamic Relations was quick to jump on the bandwagon of Islamophobia.
CAIR’s communication manager, Dina Sayedahmed, claimed, “The perpetrator of this designed anti-Muslim posters, rented a truck with an electronic billboard to display them, and then drove to at least two Islamic centres, displaying these vile and anti-Muslim messages both at the Islamic centers as well as on the road.”
Executive Director (CAIR- New Jersey) Seladin Maksut also cried foul, “While everyone – even bigots – have the right to free speech, no one has the right to target religious minorities, especially at their houses of worship, with acts of perceived intimidation and harassment.”
CAIR remained fixated on the broadcast of 26/11 footage instead of condemning the actual terror attack, perpetrated by Islamic terrorists from Pakistan. It has been vehemently pushing Hinduphobia and anti-Hindu propaganda in the US.
It had extended support for the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva‘ conference. It had also demanded the release of Al-Qaeda terrorist Aafia Siddiqui, two months before the Texas hostage crisis.
Interestingly, ‘Journalist’ Asad Essa who authored the Middle East Eye article also tried to downplay the severity of the 2008 Mumbai terror attack. He did so by labelling convicted terrorists as ‘suspects’ and dubbing the terrorist organisation, Lashkar-e-Taiba as a “Pakistan-based group.”
