Sir — This refers to the article, “Generating hysteria over a non-issue” (September 24) by Manjula Pal. The writer questions the belief that ‘love jihad’ is a national phenomenon. I thank her for defining jihad as waging a holy war against non-Muslims and would urge her to read the many articles that have been published in on this issue. She will then find that ‘love jihad’ goes beyond India’s borders.
Media reports from the UK, the US and Canada, home to substantial Muslim populations, show that Muslim youths have been ensnaring Christian, Hindu, and Sikh girls and coercing them to marry them and convert.
In some case, these unfortunate young women are used as child-producing machines or sold to brothels or even co-opted into terrorist activities.
I have a simple solution to this problem: let the parents of the Muslim boy send a marriage proposal to the non-Muslim girl’s parents. If the latter decline the proposal, the matter should end then and there. This is the most civilised way of solving the problem of ‘love jihad’.
One wonders why the parents and priests of such jihadi Romeos are not guiding them properly. Community elders cannot escape responsibility in this case.
Also, the writer talks of communal harmony and national integration. I’d like to ask her one question: Why are Muslims fighting Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jews and Christians worldwideIJ The minimal requirement of communal harmony is to give and take respect.