12 July, (Indianmuslims.Info) Recently there have been attempts to inflame the communal passion but restrain shown by both communities are exemplary. The strong bonding shown from both sides foils those attempts of disturbances by anti social elements.

There was a report in Hindustan Times regarding the communal harmony among Muslim brothers and Hindu brothers in Mumbai. This inspiring and rare show took place at the blood bank at Siddarth Hospital near Jogeshwari Station.

Muslims queued for hours on Wednesday to give blood to their Hindu neighbors wounded in the Mumbai train bombings, in a rare show of harmony in a city with a long history of rioting between the two communities.

“We don’t care whether it’s a Hindu or a Muslim who gets our blood as long as we can save them.� Said Abdul Khan, one of dozens of Muslim men waiting in line at the blood bank at Siddarth Hospital, near one blast site at Jogeshwari station. Many see Tuesday’s deadly strikes that killed more than 180 people and wounded more than 700 as the latest in a campaign of violence by Islamist militants fighting Indian rule in disputed region of Kashmir.

This has long fomented suspicious between Mumbai’s Hindu and the minority Muslim population, and often triggered violent rioting.

Mumbai, a metropolis of 17 million people, has been hit by a series of bomb blasts in the past one and half decades, the worst a series of explosions in 1993 that killed more than 260 people.

Past attacks were usually blamed on Muslims groups trying to avenge Muslim deaths in widespread religious rioting after Hindu zealots demolished a 16th century mosque in northern India.

But such thoughts were far from Pasha Mian Sheikh’s mind when he threw open the doors of the Islamia Arabia Mosque, meters from tracks near the suburb of Jogeshwari, to offer shelter, food and water to the walking wounded. “People are trying to break our harmony but they have failed,� he said of the bombers. “Hundreds of Muslims yesterday showed a lot of courage and harmony when they helped out their Hindu brothers. Hindus and Muslims are together in Mumbai.�

Leaders of India’s hardline Hindu Shiv Sena party said they had been overwhelmed by the Muslim response.

Picture: Manoj Nair