​Mansooruddin Faridi/New Delhi

India Muslim leaders and influencers have welcomed the reiteration of the government’s stand that it continues to support the nationhood of Palestinians even though it strongly condemned the Hamas’ terror attacks on Israel on October 7.

The statement by Arindam Bagchi, Spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in New Delhi on Thursday that there is no change in India’s middle-east policy and that it continues to seek a nation-state for the Palestinians which will co-exist in peace with Israel has been welcomed by leaders.

The Narendra Modi government’s unequivocal condemnation of the multipronged terrorist strike by Hamas, a Palestinian extremist rebel group, on Israel has created confusion about the change in India’s policy towards the Israel-Palestine Conflict.

This was particularly disturbing for Muslims of India who believe Palestine is a Muslim cause; and they wondered if this amounted to a change in the policy of India.

However, the Indian government has made a distinction between Hamas and the common Palestinians who live in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and the territory is not a nation-state. Though both the areas called Palestine have their local administrations and the Palestinians have the right to work in Israel, Groups like Hamas have taken a pledge to throw the Jews out and restore the entire land to the Palestinian people.

In condemning Hamas, the government was only reiterating its zero-tolerance policy on terrorism and not accepting the good-terrorist and bad-terrorist formula.

However, many say the crises caused by massive counterattacks by Israel on the Gaza Strip and the hostage-taking by Hamas, is an opportunity for the Indian leadership to play the role of a peacemaker, as it is seen to be playing in the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The Muslim leaders said that the world is looking at the Indian leadership to steer it out of a possible bigger war and bring the States in conflict to the negotiating table.

Influential Muslim leaders said the government should have made these clarifications earlier and not left any scope for misunderstanding.

However, after Bagchi’s statement, they are happy that the government has not only ended the restlessness of Indian Muslims but also axed the possibility of the crisis being used by vested interests to further their political agenda.

Syed Salman Chishty, custodian of Dargah Ajmer Sharif and head of Chishty Foundation, welcomed the Indian government's clarification of the status of an independent Palestinian state and said that "this has been our longstanding position."

“The existence of Palestine history and it is very important to restore it. Everyone from first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to now Narendra Modi has supported it. So the government couldn't change it as Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also reiterated it some time back.”

He said India is in a position to use its good offices to play a role in ending the war between Hamas and Israel. “Everyone praised India for its stand on the Ukraine crisis. In the G20, PM Modi gave a clear message to the world that now is not the era of war, any problem can be solved through dialogue,” he said.

Speaking to Awaz-the Voice, Syed Salman Chishty said that the loss of human life is very painful and cannot be justified at any cost. “At the moment, most human rights are being violated in Gaza, something similar has been done by Hamas, but we have to remember that Gaza does not mean Hamas. We always oppose terrorism in any part of the world and the name of any religion.”

Chishty said that the time international community including the United Nations must actively stop the war. There is a humanitarian crisis in Gaza; the common people have nothing to do with Hamas. There should be an immediate ceasefire,” he added.

Amir Maulana Asghar Ali, Imam, Mehdi Salafi of the Central Jamiat Ahl Hadith Hind, termed the situation in the Middle East ‘terrible.’ He said India’s commitment to its long-term policy in support of an independent Palestinian state, was a positive message. “This statement has cleared major misunderstanding.”

Maulana Salafi said that the issue of the Middle East is very sensitive. “We should not be emotional in this. India has always supported the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and, importantly, the government has once again endorsed its long-standing policy.”

Prominent religious scholar Maulana Zaheer Abbas Rizvi said that India should play a role in ending this crisis, just as tried in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “It is an opportunity for India to play the role of Vishuguru.”

Maulana Zaheer Abbas further said that successive Indian governments - right from Jawaharlal Nehru to Atal Bihari Vajpayee and now Modi - have supported the idea that an independent state is the right of Palestinians who have been stateless people for 70 years.

He said, “Violence committed by anyone is against the principles of humanity. Hamas attacked first and now Israel is showing military aggression. I believe that it is important to pay attention to the long-standing injustice against the Palestinians because violence and terrorism are born from this injustice.”

​Abbas said, “We pray that the cycle of oppression stops, the oppressed get their rights. War can never solve a problem.”

Mufti Manzoor Ziyaee, head of the International Sufi Caravan in Mumbai, says, “India has always supported the oppressed, and the country’s stand in the case of the Palestinians has remained unchanged from 1948. Each Indian Prime Minister has maintained this policy. Now the Modi government has unequivocally reiterated it and addressed the fears and misunderstanding.”

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Mufti Manzoor Ziyaee said that India's stance in this matter has always been honest. “We are ambassadors of peace and against violence. Both sides are losing their lives in this crisis which is sad. This needs to be stopped immediately. We do not support any form of terrorism. Allah does not like it; so how can we support violence or terrorism.”