[Reader-list] Hounding Muslims in the name of fighting terrorism
Prabhakar Singh
prabhakardelhi at yahoo.com
Sun Aug 10 14:52:17 IST 2008
I fully agree with you,Radhika.Muslims as a community should give a serious thought to it in larger interest of the nation rather than reacting emotionally and having any semblance of soft corner to such criminal activities.
Prabhakar
----- Original Message ----
From: "radhikarajen at vsnl.net" <radhikarajen at vsnl.net>
To: sadiafwahidi at yahoo.co.in
Cc: sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Sunday, 10 August, 2008 1:39:14 AM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Hounding Muslims in the name of fighting terrorism
Dear Sadia,
your query looks absurd on the face of it because hindus have been always tolerent, never once went on offensive in their civilised history of over 5000 years, always tolerent of the invaders be it the moghuls or later christian missionaries converting to increase the numerical strength of the "community.
Muslims demanded a land and nation for themselves, a islamic nation, birth of Pakistan was exactly that, but majority of muslims did stay back, thus making India , free india, secular nation, not a hindu nation, showcasing the tolerence of hindu society. So, without resorting to blame games , the onus is on muslims to keep up their promise when they stayed back in a nation which gave them space to stay back.
Next, as a community, why muslims are not identifying the "fasaadis" in their community who are terming themselves as jihaadis when in actual fact they are in to fassaad of killing innocents which islam does not tolerate, ? Let them come out, identify these fasaadis who try to legitimise their acts of violence using the faith of islam, thus actually giving bad name to a good religion.? let the muslim community take steps to identify the terrorsists or fasaadis in their midst, isolate them and then law of rule will take care of such deviant fasaadis.
In society, it is sad to see that such fassaadis are sheltored by communal NGOs, "criminal" lawyers defending them for bigger fee and muslim who is in no way connected to these fassadis is also the sufferer of a jihaadi by default.!
regards.
----- Original Message -----
From: "S.Fatima" <sadiafwahidi at yahoo.co.in>
Date: Saturday, August 9, 2008 8:54 pm
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Hounding Muslims in the name of fighting terrorism
To: radhikarajen at vsnl.net
Cc: sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Dear Radhika
>
> "muslims forgot their solemn oath to father of the nation, mahatma
> that they will stay back in India as brothers with their hindu
> community"
> Why should only Muslim need to take a solemn oath to live as
> brothers? Isn't that oath required by others as well?
>
>
>
> --- On Sat, 9/8/08, radhikarajen at vsnl.net <radhikarajen at vsnl.net>
> wrote:
> > From: radhikarajen at vsnl.net <radhikarajen at vsnl.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Hounding Muslims in the name of
> fighting terrorism
> > To: sadiafwahidi at yahoo.co.in
> > Cc: "sarai" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> > Date: Saturday, 9 August, 2008, 6:25 PM
> > All muslims are not terrorists, but all those terrorists who
> > are caught with acts of terrorism are muslims.
> >
> > When the community of muslims forgot their solemn oath
> > to father of the nation, mahatma that they will stay back in
> > India as brothers with their hindu community, many were
> > sceptical, for one, as the population increases the muslim
> > community along with other segments of sovciety also did
> > not get their due in good governance, thanks to the politics
> > of votebanks, society was further divided in linguistic ,
> > caste and faith segments, the national exchequer never
> > reached the grass root level of the populace and citizens in
> > sixty years of freedom kept gasping for good governance
> > without bias , without fear or favour.
> >
> > The muslim community in general had lower percentage of
> > educated men and women, who instead of having concern for
> > their community, is seen more in nesting their own homes
> > than the society. The unaccounted cash transactions,
> > unwillingness to be accountable to society, wherever the
> > muslims are majority, trying to impose their rules on
> > society are all the reasons along with political
> > appeasements and false promises and gestures of patronising
> > the mullas for votes left a common muslim wondering where he
> > belonged to. !
> >
> > The subsequent generations of muslims, particularly
> > youth started to vent their anger, demanding more say in the
> > governance along with dalits and other suppressed and
> > oppressed castes, thus a fertile ground for breeding of
> > terrorism. the mullas instead of addressing the issues used
> > their friday prayers only to arouse the passions on some
> > danish cartoons and percieved and imagined dangers from
> > "communal " parties totally loosing sight of
> > communalism played by so called secular parties.!
> >
> > In the entire process, the muslim youth who is found
> > wanting a job is easy prey for those elements in society who
> > do not risk themselves of being seen as terorists, use the
> > youth to terrorise the society.
> >
> > Only solution to terror is handle the elements who
> > organise the youth to terrorise the society, terrorise them
> > and democratic rule of laws should handle the deviant
> > behaviour of the culprits without fear or favour of vote
> > banks.
> >
> > regards.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "S.Fatima" <sadiafwahidi at yahoo.co.in>
> > Date: Friday, August 8, 2008 6:54 pm
> > Subject: [Reader-list] Hounding Muslims in the name of
> > fighting terrorism
> > To: sarai <reader-list at sarai.net>
> >
> > > All The Wrong Men
> > > A cleric’s dubious arrest over the Ahmedabad blasts
> > is just the
> > > tip. A three-month investigation by AJIT SAHI exposes
> > the random
> > > targeting of Muslims by the police
> > > (Tehelka:
> > >
> >
> http://www.tehelka.com/story_main40.asp?filename=Ne090808coverstory.asp)> > AS HE’D done unfailingly every Friday for two
> > decades, Maulana
> > > Abdul Haleem cleared his throat and began to speak to
> > the faithful
> > > on July 25. It was near 2 pm, and the soft-spoken,
> > revered aalim,
> > > or Islamic scholar, had just led scores of Muslims in
> > the hour-
> > > long juma namaaz at his packed mosque in one of
> > Ahmedabad’s Muslim
> > > localities where the preacher and many in his
> > congregation live.
> > > His sermon this afternoon was on a Muslim’s duty
> > towards his
> > > neighbours.“You cannot fill your stomach if your
> > neighbour is
> > > hungry,” Haleem spoke in his unhurried tone. “You
> > cannot
> > > discriminate between your Hindu and Muslim
> > neighbours.”
> > > Thirty hours later, within minutes of the serial
> > blasts that
> > > killed 53 people in Ahmedabad on Saturday, policemen
> > stormed
> > > Haleem’s house barely a km from the mosque and
> > dragged him away as
> > > his stunned neighbours watched. On Monday, as a local
> > magistrate
> > > gave the Crime Branch his custody for two weeks,
> > police claimed
> > > Haleem is a crucial link in the Saturday blasts and
> > that grilling
> > > him would unravel the execution of and the conspiracy
> > behind the
> > > terror act.
> > > In a time of tragedy and terror, everybody,
> > justifiably, wants
> > > answers, culprits, punishment. The challenge then is
> > not to reach
> > > for the quick routes, the easy demonisations.
> > Unfortunately, the
> > > Indian State has not quite met that challenge. Over
> > the years, for
> > > instance, SIMI has come to be a dread acronym for most
> > Indians —
> > > Students’ Islamic Movement of India, a hotbed of
> > terrorism, a
> > > lethal and shadowy organisation intent on destroying
> > the nation.
> > > Quick on the back of every horrific blast, that name
> > is thrust
> > > upon the public mind like a deadly innuendo —
> > stretching outwards
> > > to embrace the entire community. But how true are
> > these allegations?
> > > In the struggle for a just and safe society, it is
> > crucial to find
> > > real perpetrators and correct answers; crucial to
> > cleave doggedly
> > > to the idea of fair play and rule of law; crucial not
> > to fall prey
> > > to overblown and false psychoses. In pursuit of this,
> > in an
> > > attempt to sift fact from prejudice, TEHELKA conducted
> > an
> > > investigation across India over three months and 12
> > cities.
> > > Serialised here, starting this week, the disturbing
> > investigation
> > > found that an overwhelming majority of terrorism cases
> > —
> > > especially those related to the outlawed SIMI — are
> > based on
> > > either non-existent or fraudulent evidence and are an
> > affront to
> > > both law and common sense.
> > > The investigation found that entrenched prejudices in
> > the
> > > executive and the judiciary, an abject lack of
> > political will
> > > against framing scapegoats, and a 24x7 news media that
> > demands
> > > instant whodunit answers and unquestioningly
> > copy-pastes every
> > > unproven police and intelligence story on terrorist
> > networks has
> > > morphed into a tragic persecution of hundreds of
> > people falsely
> > > accused of terrorism. Nearly all of these are Muslim;
> > nearly all
> > > of these are poor.
> > > “We will rise to the challenge and I am confident we
> > will be able
> > > to defeat these forces,” Prime Minister Manmohan
> > Singh said as he
> > > walked about in the debris at Ahmedabad’s civil
> > hospital, where
> > > two blasts had inflicted the worst casualties. He
> > urged political
> > > parties and police and intelligence agencies to work
> > together
> > > against efforts aimed at “destroying our social
> > fabric,
> > > undermining communal harmony.” Unfortunately, given
> > their
> > > staggering record of false cases against innocent
> > people, it
> > > appears that incompetent police and intelligence
> > agencies are
> > > doing exactly the opposite.
> > > Maulana Abdul Haleem’s story, chronicled below, is a
> > searing
> > > example why.
> > > SINCE SUNDAY, in anonymous plants in the stenographic
> > news media,
> > > police have claimed that Haleem is a SIMI member
> > linked with
> > > Pakistan- and Bangladeshbased terrorists. Gujarat
> > government’s
> > > lawyer told the remand magistrate that Haleem sent
> > Muslim youth
> > > from Ahmedabad to Uttar Pradesh to train as terrorists
> > to avenge
> > > the 2002 mass killings of Muslims in the state. He
> > said they
> > > planned, among others, to assassinate BJP leader LK
> > Advani and
> > > Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. Police have said
> > Haleem was
> > > absconding since he was named an accused in this case
> > in 2002.
> > > TEHELKA’s investigation in Ahmedabad following the
> > cleric’s arrest
> > > has thrown up strong evidence, documentary and
> > circumstantial,
> > > that far from absconding, Haleem has lived at his
> > house — which is
> > > less than a km from the local police station — for
> > years and led a
> > > public life within his community. The charge against
> > him that he
> > > sent Muslims to train as terrorists is highly dubious
> > based as it
> > > is on just one letter from Haleem whose contents
> > don’t remotely
> > > reflect a link with terrorism. And until Saturday’s
> > bomb blasts,
> > > Ahmedabad police had never called Haleem a SIMI
> > member.
> > > If anything, Haleem’s family and followers say
> > police have
> > > harassed him for years for his role in helping victims
> > of the 2002
> > > anti-Muslim violence. This year, on May 27, an
> > inspector from the
> > > police station sent Haleem a onepage handwritten
> > notice in
> > > Gujarati. It said: “An office of Markaz Ahle-Hadis
> > [the Islamic
> > > sect to which Haleem and his followers belong] Trust
> > has been
> > > opened in Shop no. 4 in the Alishan Shopping Centre.
> > You are its
> > > head… Many members have been appointed in it. You
> > are directed to
> > > submit a list of their names, addresses and phone
> > numbers.”
> > > Apart from the gross illegality of such a demand on a
> > trust
> > > constituted as per law with no criminal charge against
> > it, the
> > > letter proves the police knew Haleem’s whereabouts
> > and were in
> > > touch with him as late as two months ago. Indeed, the
> > notice
> > > mentions Haleem’s home address: 2, Devi Park
> > Society, near
> > > Baikunth Dham Temple. Haleem’s family has proof that
> > the police
> > > received his reply the next day.
> > > A month later, on June 29, Haleem rushed telegrams to
> > Gujarat’s
> > > director-general of police and Ahmedabad’s police
> > commissioner
> > > claiming that the police forcibly entered his house
> > that day and
> > > harassed his wife and children in his absence. “We
> > are peace-
> > > loving and law-abiding citizens and have never been
> > part of any
> > > illegal activity,” Haleem wrote the telegram in
> > Hindi. “The police
> > > are unlawfully harassing me and my family without
> > appropriate
> > > cause. This is aviolation of our civil rights.”
> > Predictably, he
> > > didn’t hear from either officer.
> > > In April, when a local outfit called Social Unity
> > & Peace Forum,
> > > which has both Muslims and Hindus as its members,
> > organised a
> > > socio-religious meeting, it wrote to the police
> > seeking permission
> > > to use loudspeakers. That application clearly
> > mentioned that
> > > Haleem would be the main speaker at the event.
> > Haleem’s family
> > > also offers his driving licence, renewed by the
> > Ahmedabad
> > > transport office on December 28, 2006, as proof that
> > he led a
> > > normal life all along. Three years ago, in July 2005,
> > the Gujarati
> > > newspaper Divya Bhaskar had published Haleem’s
> > picture with a
> > > statement he released at a press conference giving his
> > views on a
> > > raging controversy over the alleged rape of a woman,
> > Imrana, by
> > > her father-in-law in a village in Uttar Pradesh.
> > > “It is crazy that we have to prove Maulana
> > Haleem’s innocence,”
> > > says his friend Haneef Shaikh, who has appealed to the
> > Gujarat
> > > governor to secure the cleric’s release. Adds Nazir,
> > in whose
> > > house Haleem has lived with his family as tenant: “I
> > have known
> > > Maulana most closely. He is a man of religion and has
> > never
> > > indulged in terrorism.” Says Haleem’s wife Noor
> > Saba: “I swear by
> > > my children that my husband is not a terrorist. He is
> > being framed.”
> > > Outrage and disbelief is unmistakable in the
> > cleric’s
> > > neighbourhood. “Maulana Haleem has helped hundreds
> > in their daily
> > > lives by imparting them the skills of patience and
> > fortitude,”
> > > says a shaken Ehsanul Haq, a 27-year-old embroiderer.
> > Haq fishes
> > > out his marriage certificate, the nikaahnama the
> > Maulana signed
> > > after presiding at his wedding on June 1, to show that
> > Haleem
> > > wasn’t any absconder. Haleem had delivered a sermon
> > to the guests
> > > at Haq’s wedding over loudspeakers that Haq had
> > installed — with
> > > police permission.
> > > Abdul Haleem, who turned 43 on July 13, hails from
> > Uttar Pradesh
> > > and has lived in Ahmedabad from 1988. He is a preacher
> > with a
> > > puritanical Islamic sect called Ahle Hadis that began
> > on the
> > > subcontinent some 180 years ago and has survived a
> > frowning Sunni
> > > orthodoxy. The sect lays its store by the Hadis —
> > the oral
> > > narrative of Prophet Mohammad’s life — as a
> > guiding principle for
> > > Muslims in addition to the Quran. The news media have
> > long
> > > parroted the police’s insinuation that Ahle-Hadis is
> > a terrorist
> > > outfit linked with Lashkar-e-Tayaba. The police claim
> > its members
> > > include many terror accused such as those of the July
> > 2006 Mumbai
> > > train blasts. The sect, with a claimed membership of
> > 30 million in
> > > India, denies the charge. It points out that Union
> > Home Minister
> > > Shivraj Patil was the chief guest at its national
> > symposium two
> > > years ago at New Delhi.
> > > In Ahmedabad, Haleem led the 5,000-odd Ahle Hadis
> > followers for 14
> > > years, resigning three years ago to minister a small
> > mosque so he
> > > could begin life as a scrap dealer to earn a regular
> > income to
> > > feed his wife and seven children, the oldest two of
> > whom study at
> > > a madarsa in Delhi.
> > > HALEEM’S TROUBLES had begun soon after the 2002
> > anti-Muslim
> > > violence in Gujarat as he involved himself in relief
> > work at the
> > > camps housing hundreds of Muslim refugees. An
> > Ahmedabad native
> > > named Shahid Bakshi, who lived in Kuwait and was
> > visiting his
> > > home, came to meet Haleem with two other Muslims. One
> > of them was
> > > from Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh who also lived in
> > Kuwait. The
> > > other was a small-time trader from Moradabad. The
> > three wanted to
> > > help 10-year-old Muslim orphans of the 2002 violence
> > by bringing
> > > them free education and care, so Haleem took them to
> > four refugee
> > > camps. A week later, one camp responded saying it had
> > found 34
> > > children for such care. Haleem phoned the Kuwait
> > expatriate, who
> > > was then in Moradabad, and also wrote to him about the
> > offer. But
> > > getting no response, the plan died and, importantly,
> > no children
> > > were ever sent.
> > > Three months later, in August 2002, Delhi Police
> > arrested Shahid
> > > Bakshi and the other expatriate from Kuwait allegedly
> > with 4.5 kg
> > > of the explosive material, RDX. The Moradabad trader
> > was also
> > > arrested from his hometown. All three were charged
> > under the
> > > Prevention of Terrorism Act for conspiring to carry
> > out terrorist
> > > acts. Delhi Police found Haleem’s letter (about the
> > camp’s offer
> > > of the orphan children) with the expatriate from
> > Kuwait. As both
> > > Bakshi and Haleem were from Ahmedabad, police there
> > were informed.
> > > Immediately, Ahmedabad police officer DG Vanzara
> > called in Haleem
> > > and detained him — illegally — for five days.
> > (Vanzara is now in
> > > jail, accused of killing Gujarat businessman
> > Sohrabuddin in cold
> > > blood in 2005 and trying to pass him off as a
> > terrorist.) Haleem’s
> > > family frantically filed a petition with the Gujarat
> > High Court to
> > > secure his release. “The judge ordered the police to
> > bring Haleem
> > > to the court in two hours,” recalls the
> > > family’s lawyer, Hashim Qureshi. The police
> > instantly released
> > > Haleem who rushed to the court where his statement on
> > his illegal
> > > detention was duly recorded and is part of official
> > documents.
> > > Even as Delhi Police created the ‘RDX case’
> > against the two
> > > expatriates visiting from Kuwait and the Moradabad
> > trader, police
> > > in Ahmedabad created a parallel case against the same
> > individuals
> > > for “luring Muslim youth to train as terrorists in
> > Moradabad”.
> > > This is the case the police and the media have
> > referred since
> > > Haleem’s arrest for the July 26 bomb blasts to argue
> > that the
> > > cleric was involved in “sending Muslim youth to
> > train as
> > > terrorists”. The Gujarat government lawyer was
> > openly lying on
> > > Monday when he told the magistrate that Haleem had
> > sent “30 youth”
> > > to Moradabad for training as terrorists. The
> > charge-sheet in the
> > > case clearly admits that the so-called conspiracy had
> > remained on
> > > paper and no children ever travelled from Ahmedabad to
> > Moradabad.
> > > While Delhi’s ‘RDX case’ named Haleem a witness,
> > Ahmedabad’s
> > > ‘terrorist training case’ named him an accused and
> > said he was
> > > absconding. The law says the police have to follow due
> > legal
> > > process before declaring an accused as absconding.
> > This includes
> > > searches at his house and workplace in view of
> > independent
> > > witnesses, and recording statements from neighbours to
> > establish
> > > that the accused has not been seen for a long time.
> > The Ahmedabad
> > > police did not bother with this exercise.
> > > The entire case against Haleem is based on a letter he
> > wrote to
> > > the expatriate from Kuwait, Farhan Ahmad Ali. Dated
> > August 7,
> > > 2002, the letter makes no reference to terrorist
> > training or any
> > > other unlawful activity. It simply said: “You had
> > come [to
> > > Ahmedabad] with an ‘ahem maqsad’ (important
> > goal).” With a giant
> > > leap of imagination, thepolice claim that the words
> > “ahem maqsad”
> > > can only mean a conspiracy for terrorist training.
> > Haleem wrote
> > > that six of the children were orphans and the rest
> > poor. He
> > > concluded the letter saying: “I believe that by
> > god’s grace you
> > > will certainly help me in this educational and
> > constructive
> > > mission to propagate Islam.” In his deposition
> > before a Delhi
> > > court in the ‘RDX case’, Haleem said he was told
> > the children will
> > > get “a good education and decent living” in
> > Moradabad, and had no
> > > clue if Bakshi and the others aimed to train the
> > children as
> > > terrorists.Last year, the Delhi judge hearing the
> > ‘RDX case’ found
> > > Shahid Bakshi and the other expatriate from Kuwait,
> > Farhan Ahmad
> > > Ali, guilty and sentenced each to seven years in jail.
> > The court
> > > accepted the police version even though the only
> > witnesses to the
> > > alleged recovery of RDX were policemen. Ahmad Ali had
> > claimed that
> > > he was arrested at the airport as he was to board a
> > flight to
> > > Kuwait, and said he had tickets as proof. The judge
> > ignored that.
> > > Both Bakshi and Ahmad Ali appealed at the Delhi High
> > Court against
> > > their conviction. Here is an incredible twister: while
> > they got
> > > bail from the Delhi High Court despite being convicted
> > by the
> > > lower court, they were denied bail by the Gujarat High
> > Court in
> > > the ‘terrorist training case’ although no guilt
> > has yet been
> > > established in that case and the Gujarat crime branch
> > admits their
> > > crime never went beyond hatching the alleged
> > conspiracy. That’s
> > > not all.
> > > The Moradabad trader, a frail 56-year-old man named
> > Hafiz Mohammad
> > > Tahir, was acquitted in the ‘RDX case’. He proved
> > doubly lucky
> > > when the Gujarat High Court granted him bail in the
> > ‘terrorist
> > > training case’ in June 2004. In its eye-opening bail
> > order, the
> > > judge said: “… All that remains against the
> > present applicant
> > > [Tahir] is that he visited Ahmedabad and had visited
> > camps to
> > > identify the children so that they can be better
> > looked after.
> > > That by itself cannot be considered an offence.”
> > > Since Bakshi and Ahmad Ali are accused of exactly the
> > same crime,
> > > the argument should be valid for them, too. Yet,
> > another Gujarat
> > > High Court judge denied them bail and both continue to
> > languish in
> > > jail. Tahir has, meanwhile, moved to Ahmedabad because
> > the Gujarat
> > > High Court’s 2004 bail order said he must report to
> > the Crime
> > > Branch office in Ahmedabad every Sunday. On Sunday,
> > July 27, the
> > > morning after the blasts, Tahir visited the crime
> > branch office
> > > with trepidation. “They grilled me four hours on the
> > blasts,”
> > > Tahir told TEHELKA. “I was glad when they let me
> > go.”
> > > The hearing in the ‘terrorist training case’ is
> > nearly over. It is
> > > to be seen if a separate trial will be called against
> > Haleem,
> > > since he is no more “absconding”. Meanwhile,
> > Haleem’s family is
> > > worried stiff over the next meal and the next
> > month’s house rent
> > > of Rs 2,500. Haleem’s wife says she has no savings.
> > His lone
> > > employee, a daily labourer, is trying to run
> > Haleem’s scrap shop.
> > > SADLY, MAULANA Abdul Haleem’s story is anything but
> > rare. One
> > > glaring case concerns a “family of terrorists”. On
> > July 15, a
> > > posse of policemen arrested 28-year-old Mohammad
> > Muqeemuddin Yasir
> > > as he returned home at night from his father’s
> > workshop in
> > > Hyderabad. Ten days later, when serial bomb blasts
> > rocked
> > > Bangalore on July 25 killing two people, Hyderabad
> > Police
> > > Commissioner Prasanna Rao told the Hindustan Times
> > newspaper that,
> > > during interrogation, Yasir had confessed that before
> > his arrest,
> > > he had taken terror “operatives” to Karnataka and
> > “arranged safe
> > > houses” for them. Of course, Yasir denies the
> > confession. “I
> > > haven’t told them anything,” Yasir told his
> > mother, Tasleem
> > > Fatima, when she visited him at the jail on July 29.
> > “The police
> > > are lying.” Fatima told TEHELKA her son was tortured
> > during what
> > > the police commissioner calls “interrogation”.
> > “He was hung upside
> > > down and beaten,” she said.
> > > Apart from the fact that a confession made to the
> > police is
> > > inadmissible as evidence before a judge (never mind
> > that the news
> > > media accept confessions as gospel), Yasir’s alleged
> > confession,
> > > if true, should be a slap on the face of the Hyderabad
> > Police.
> > > After all, Yasir is an ex-SIMI member whose father and
> > one brother
> > > are jailed on charges of terrorism. Yasir’s father,
> > 56-yearold
> > > Maulana Mohammad Nasiruddin, is a wellrespected cleric
> > who has now
> > > incarcerated in Sabarmati jail in Ahmedabad for nearly
> > four years
> > > and has been denied bail all the way up to the Supreme
> > Court.
> > > Yasir’s younger brother, Riasuddin Nasir, is jailed
> > in Karnataka’s
> > > Belgaum district since he was arrested in January.
> > > With his brother and father suspected as dreaded
> > terrorists, the
> > > Hyderabad Police should have kept tabs on Yasir all
> > the time and
> > > instantly known if he was aiding terrorists. That the
> > police
> > > didn’t catch Yasir “arranging safe houses” for
> > terrorists in
> > > Karnataka is because he probably never did any such
> > thing. This
> > > reporter interviewed Yasir in Hyderabad a month before
> > his arrest,
> > > on his birthday on June 12, at an engineering workshop
> > that his
> > > father had set up three decades ago with borrowed
> > money and skills
> > > picked up as an assistant to a roadside mechanic. In
> > the din of
> > > machines, Yasir was happily engaged in managing
> > customers crowding
> > > the small front office. “My father and brother have
> > been framed,”
> > > he forcefully toldTEHELKA.
> > > A shy man with a Boy Scout smile, Yasir seems a victim
> > of patently
> > > bogus cases against him. He was a member of SIMI when
> > it was
> > > banned by the Centre on September 27, 2001. (Given the
> > relentless
> > > government propaganda against SIMI, the reader might
> > find it hard
> > > to believe that no court in India has yet upheld the
> > charge of
> > > terrorism against SIMI as an organisation.) Yasir
> > echoed dozens
> > > others interviewed by this reporter across India in
> > saying that
> > > SIMI was a platform for “deep religious training and
> > self-
> > > purification”, and not for acts of terrorism or
> > anti-India
> > > conspiracies. “SIMI took up issues of atrocities on
> > Muslims from
> > > Chechnya to Kashmir,” Yasir said. “It never gave
> > up the issue of
> > > the Babri Masjid, and this attracted many of us.”
> > >
> > > ON THE night before SIMI was banned, the police
> > arrested Yasir and
> > > booked him with the other two SIMI representatives in
> > Hyderabad
> > > under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. A
> > magistrate gave
> > > them bail the next day. A day later, the police
> > slapped another
> > > case against the three, alleging that one of them was
> > arrested
> > > making a speech against the government. The other two,
> > including
> > > Yasir, were shown as absconding. They went back to the
> > court and
> > > were sent to jail, where Yasir spent 29 days before
> > securing bail.
> > > Seven years have gone by. Trial is yet to begin.
> > > Worse is the fate of Yasir’s father, a firebrand
> > cleric who never
> > > held his tongue in public speeches against the
> > government,
> > > especially on issues such as the Babri Masjid
> > demolition and the
> > > 2002 anti-Muslim violence of Gujarat. Embroiled in
> > cooked-up
> > > cases, in several of which he was subsequently
> > acquitted, Maulana
> > > Nasiruddin was asked by the Hyderabad Police to report
> > at their
> > > office regularly.
> > > On one such day in October 2004, when Maulana
> > Nasiruddin reached
> > > the police station, he was arrested by a police team
> > from
> > > Ahmedabad for his alleged involvement in a terror
> > conspiracy in
> > > Gujarat, including the March 2003 murder of former
> > Gujarat Home
> > > Minister, Haren Pandya. (The only evidence against
> > Maulana
> > > Nasiruddin is his confession, which, in a letter to
> > the court, he
> > > has denied making.)
> > > Local Muslims who had gone with the Maulana to the
> > police station
> > > began protesting as he was led out. At this, Gujarat
> > police
> > > officer Narendra Amin took out his service revolver
> > and shot dead
> > > one protestor. All hell broke loose. Nasiruddin’s
> > supporters
> > > refused to move the dead protestor’s body unless the
> > police filed
> > > an FIR against Amin. Finally, Hyderabad police filed
> > two cases
> > > back to back: One, their own, against the protestors
> > for blocking
> > > the Maulana’s arrest; and the other, under pressure,
> > against
> > > Narendra Amin, for shooting the protestor.
> > > The case against Amin hasn’t moved an inch in four
> > years. The
> > > Hyderabad police ought to have seized his revolver and
> > sent it for
> > > a forensic examination, along with the bullet
> > recovered from the
> > > dead protestor’s body. They should have arrested and
> > produced Amin
> > > before a magistrate. This is an open-and-shut case if
> > there ever
> > > was one: with the weapon of homicide matching the
> > bullet, and
> > > dozens of eyewitnesses. Of course, none of this
> > happened. Amin
> > > proceeded to Ahmedabad with Maulana Nasiruddin in his
> > custody. The
> > > FIR against him has become a dead letter.
> > > Amin is the same police officer who was subsequently
> > accused of
> > > killing Kausar Bi, the wife of Gujarat businessman
> > Sohrabuddin who
> > > was killed by police officer Vanzara in 2005 (as
> > mentioned above
> > > in Haleem’s story). Like Vanzara, Amin, too, is now
> > in jail.
> > > MEANWHILE, A tragedy has befallen the main complainant
> > against
> > > Amin in the Hyderabad shootout case. This is none
> > other than 20-
> > > year-old Nasir, Maulana Nasiruddin’s youngest son
> > and Yasir’s
> > > youngest brother. On January 11 this year, Nasir was
> > arrested by
> > > police in Karnataka with another person and was
> > accused of
> > > stealing the motorcycle they were allegedly riding.
> > Claiming a
> > > knife was found on the two, the police slapped charges
> > such as
> > > ‘waging war against State’ on Nasir and his
> > co-accused.
> > > Amazingly, the police filed seven confessions from the
> > two accused
> > > over the next 18 days. Not one showed them saying they
> > were SIMI
> > > members. Police then filed their eighth confessions in
> > which they
> > > allegedly accepted being SIMI members and the
> > attendant terror
> > > charges. Ninety days later, when the police failed to
> > file a
> > > charge-sheet, Nasir’s lawyer landed at the
> > magistrate’s house who
> > > then had no option but to grant bail as per law. But
> > by this time,
> > > the police had implicated Nasir in another case of
> > conspiracy, so
> > > he continues in jail. Of course, Nasir has retracted
> > his
> > > confessions alleging torture. Yet, he has little hope
> > against
> > > biases in the judicial system.
> > > Magistrate B. Jinaralkar, who sent the two accused to
> > police
> > > custody, told TEHELKA reporter Sanjana the following
> > in an interview:
> > > “Even as I was signing the necessary papers
> > remanding them to
> > > judicial custody, Asadullah [the other accused]
> > stepped forward
> > > requesting to speak with me. He told me that the
> > police denied
> > > them food and water and subjected them to repeated
> > beatings. He
> > > proceeded to show me the bruises on Nasir’s body.
> > The two
> > > repeatedly made a reference to human rights violation
> > by the
> > > police and demanded medical attention.
> > > “I was very surprised by three things: they were
> > talking of their
> > > fundamental rights in an authoritative manner, they
> > spoke English
> > > and, further, they readily admitted that they had
> > stolen the bike,
> > > something most thieves never do in my experience.”
> > > When a police sub-inspector phoned the magistrate
> > “warning” that
> > > the accused shouldn’t be sent to judicial custody,
> > the magistrate
> > > asked the evidence to be brought to this house. “The
> > materials
> > > produced before me included duplicate identity cards,
> > a fancy
> > > dagger, a map of South India with red marks against
> > Udupi and Goa,
> > > an American dollar, two pieces of paper with www.com
> > written on
> > > one and ‘Jungle King behind back me’ on another.
> > > “When I looked at these materials in their entirety,
> > I felt that
> > > these were definitely not just bike thieves. Why would
> > bike
> > > thieves carry around duplicate identity cards and a
> > map of South
> > > India? The fact that they had an American dollar
> > seemed to suggest
> > > they had international links. The paper with www.com
> > indicated to
> > > me that they were tech-savvy. The other piece of paper
> > had a
> > > message that seemed to be a sort of code that I could
> > not
> > > immediately decipher. Also, when I examined the South
> > India map,
> > > Udupi had a sort of indication with a red marker
> > against it.
> > > Perhaps they were planning to strike at the place
> > during a
> > > religious function.
> > > “All these suggested that there were definitely
> > enough grounds in
> > > my opinion to grant the police custody of Nasir and
> > Asadullah to
> > > facilitate further investigations.” Go figure.
> > > So is there hope for Maulana Haleem, Muqeemuddin
> > Yasir, Maulana
> > > Nasiruddin and Riasuddin Nasir? The boys’ mother
> > doesn’t think so.
> > > “Why don’t the police put us all together in
> > jail,” she told
> > > TEHELKA, her voice shaking with rage. “Then they can
> > shoot all of
> > > us dead.” •
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now,
> > on
> > >
> > http://help.yahoo.com/l/in/yahoo/mail/yahoomail/tools/tools-08.html/
> > > _________________________________________
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