[Reader-list] Antulay's theory finds many takers

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Antulay's theory finds many takers
20 Dec 2008, 0531 hrs IST, TNN

NEW DELHI: Minority affairs minister A R Antulay might have deeply
embarrassed his own party but the throng of the faithful that welcomed
him at a mosque near Parliament where he went to offer afternoon
prayers reflected a groundswell of support in his community.

Antulay's stand on Mumbai anti-terrorism squad chief Hemant Karkare's
killing — that it was linked to the officer investigating Hindu
radicals accused in the Malegaon case — has earned him the
overwhelming support of opinion-makers in the Muslim community who
feel that the concerns are valid.

Muslim organisations and members of Parliament have pointed a finger
of suspicion at the "mysterious circumstances" under which Karkare and
his two other officers — Ashok Kamte and Vijay Salaskar — were killed
just when the ATS was making sensational disclosures regarding the
alleged involvement of Hindu extremist outfits in the Malegaon blast
case.

JD(U) MP Ejaz Ali said the question raised by the minister was a
timely one. "The circumstances around Hemant Karkare's death are
suspicious. He was getting threats to his life and his wife has
refused compensation offered to her. We demand a probe by the CBI or a
joint parliamentary committee on the issue," he said. The MP added
that national interest must be given precedence over religious and
political concerns.

Similar reservations on Karkare's killing were raised by Mohammed
Adeeb, independent member of the Rajya Sabha from UP who felt the
"sudden" deaths of the three officers were on everyone's mind. "It is
a question that should not be politicised," he said. At pains to
disassociate himself from the Congress, Adeeb said he was neither an
admirer of the Congress party nor Antulay. "People with secular
credentials have wanted to know about this (the circumstances around
Karkare's death). I don't understand what the fuss is all about? This
is a democracy and we have every right to ask for a probe," he said.

Jamiat-e-Islami-Hind president Jalal Umri alleged that the government
was trying to brush the issue under the carpet. "Up till the Malegaon
probe, only Muslim names were being named in every blast as suspects.
But after the ATS investigation, things that we had suspected for long
since the Nagpur blasts would have been backed by hard evidence
finally," he said.

Umri added that Antulay was not wrong but to condemn him was wrong.
All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (AIMMM) said it was relevant to
note that no demands had been made by terrorists. "It was as if the
terrorists had intended to kill the three and they accomplished this,"
Zafarul Islam Khan, AIMMM president, said.