Dear Editor,

I would like to support the call of the CIOG (Sunday Stabroek, 11/18/01) to pray for world peace and particularly for the citizens of Afghanistan, Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, and Iraq. Lists of this sort cannot be exhaustive especially in today's world. I have a short prayer list that I would like to share.

But let us pray for Ahmadiya Muslims of Pakistan who face endless persecution at the hands of the dominant Sunni Muslims, Ahmadiyas who dare not publicly declare themselves Muslims and who are given refuge and protection in India, the land of infidels and unbelievers. The brotherhood is silent about them.

Let us pray for the millions of Shia Muslim minority of Pakistan and India where there is an annual blood letting between them and the members of the Sunni community, Ramadan or no Ramadan. The brotherhood is silent about them.

Let us pray for the millions of descendants of Indian Muslims who migrated to Pakistan at the time of partition and who continue to have nothing but a second class status. Fifty years after independence they and their descendants are still described as "refugees." The brotherhood is silent about them.

Let us pray for the thousands of Kashmiri Muslims who have been gunned down for their refusal to aid the activities of the terrorists. The brotherhood is silent about them.

Let us pray for the millions of Bihari Muslims in the Islamic Republic of Bangladesh who migrated there at the time of India's partition when Bangladesh was East Pakistan and who with the freedom of Bangladesh from Pakistani oppression are now deemed stateless. Neither Pakistan nor Bangladesh wants them. Again it is India, the land of infidel and unbelievers, that gives them refuge and protection. The brotherhood is silent about them.

Let us pray for Kurdish Muslims of Iraq, where they face extinction. The brotherhood is silent about them. Let us also pray for the Kurdish Muslims of Turkey. Here too they face persecution and marginalisation, and worse. And here too the brotherhood has been silent.

Let us give thanks to God Almighty that the killing spree in Algeria, where Muslims have been slaughtering fellow Muslims since 1992 has ceased, at least for now. And let us give thanks to God Almighty that similar killings have ceased in Egypt where again Muslims have been slaughtering fellow Muslims.

Let us give thanks to God Almighty for the infidel United States where Muslims - refugees from Afghanistan and Kurdistan, Ahmadiyas and Shias from Pakistan, Bihari Muslims from Bangladesh, Muslims from Nigeria, Somalia, and the Sudan are free to practice their faith without persecution or fear.

Let us give thanks to God Almighty for the infidel India, where Muslims access the privileges and rights of the civil law when they so desire, or where they are free to resort to Muslim law when they so desire. Infidel India gives Muslims such protection and rights that few Islamic states in the world are able to provide. For this God we thank you. We pray to you, O God Almighty, the Fountain of Peace and Justice, give us Peace and Justice.