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The burning down of a temple in Sindh, Pakistan, on Saturday, by a mob avenging the alleged desecration of the Koran by a Hindu, made at least one Indian Muslim decide to go beyond the mandatory condemnation that follows such acts.

"Muslims in India must take the lead in reconstructing the temple," says Prof Juzar Bandukwala, veteran Gandhian and crusader for education in his community. "It would have a most salutary impact, including the isolation of extremist elements on both sides."

The retired physics professor of MS University, Baroda, has personally experienced majoritarian violence. His house in Baroda was attacked twice in 2002: first on February 28, the day after the Sabarmati was burnt at Godhra; and then again on March 1. Ironically, he had delivered a lecture at the invitation of the RSS a day before the train was burnt.

Though his Hindu neighbours sheltered him, his home was destroyed. The former state PUCL president (he resigned just two months ago owing to ill-health), shifted to university quarters. To his dismay, those occupying flats in the same block moved out one by one, and for three years, no one moved in, despite the shortage of university accommodation. "For the first time, I felt like an untouchable," recalls the professor.

At that time, had Pakistani Hindus reached out to Gujarat’s Muslims, it would have meant a lot, he says. However, Bandukwala recognises that their circumstances may not have allowed them to. "With all the suffering Indian Muslims have faced, we recognise that India is a functioning plural society, unlike Pakistan. Credit for this goes to Gandhi and Nehru."

But why should India’s Muslims bother about violence against Hindus in Pakistan? "If we don’t speak for the rights of Hindus in Pakistan, we lose the moral right to demand justice in India," says the professor. "Pakistani Hindus are as much victims of Partition as we are; we sail in the same boat. Their pain is as much our pain."

Prof Bandukwala admits that the Pakistani government is hardly likely to welcome such a gesture. "The Pakistan government faces a severe crisis from militant Islamists," he says. "Yet we have to move beyond the extremists on either side of the boundary."

The condition of minorities in the two countries is similar, says the professor: ghettoised, with poor education, low income and high susceptibility to attacks by majoritarian groups. But there is one important difference: the progressive movement is stronger here.

"That acts as a protective umbrella, though it failed in 2002. In Pakistan, the progressive movement itself is in retreat, and that makes minority protection more difficult. Hopefully an Indian Muslim’s offer to rebuild the temple -- going through Pakistani liberals such as Asma Jahangir -- could strengthen the liberal movement in Pakistan. After all, most of these Pakistani extremist outfits have their roots in India." .