[Reader-list] Communal profiling by Delhi Police

[Shivam Vij शिवम् विज्]

Communal profiling

Delhi TERROR TARGET

Delhi cops prepare a list of all Muslim students studying in Manipal institute

By Sowmya Aji in Manipal
Mail Today, 25 September 2008, mailtoday.in


IF YOU are Muslim and studying at the prestigious Manipal Academy of
Higher Education (MAHE), the big brothers are closely watching you. In
a shocking case of communal profiling, Manipal Police, under
instructions from their Delhi counterpart, have prepared a list of all
Muslim students at MAHE from across the country for "verification".

The second category of students under the scanner are those coming
from Uttar Pradesh. However, the university is "absolutely sure" that
it doesn't have any terrorist on its rolls. In fact, director of the
Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT) Brigadier Surjit Pabla, who had
fought militants in Jammu and Kashmir before his retirement, says his
campus is the "safest place" in the country where nothing antinational
takes place.

Manipal Police, too, seem to be merely doing Delhi Police's bidding.
Inspector general of police (western range) Ashit Mohan Prasad, the
senior most official here, said "no Delhi Police team went to MAHE at
all. Maybe, it is our local police who have sought this list."

It all began with Delhi Police bringing a blindfolded Mohammad Saif, a
Delhi blasts accused, to this university town to prove he had sourced
bombs and funds from Karnataka.

According to Delhi Police, Saif had allegedly booked a room at Hotel
New Broadway International here as Rahul Sharma on August 29 when he
visited "the town to seek admission to the MIT". This scribble on the
guest ledger of the Eshwarnagar hotel sent the police hotfooting to
the MAHE campus. MIT director Dr Pabla did his own verification. "We
have verified that three students with variations of the name, Saif,
like Saifulla or Saifuddin studied here in 2003 and 2005. They have
all passed out of the university and there is no one by the name of
Saif here now," he said.

But the police obviously assume that the Muslim students and those
from UP are up to something suspicious. Pabla maintained that his
campus was free of terrorists. "'This is the safest place in the
country. There can be no SIMI or other banned outfit working on our
campuses or staying in our hostels. Our wardens are very strict and on
the watch for potential mischief makers."

The director also pointed out that patrolling on the campus was
intense when Saif was supposedly in Manipal. "We are particular that
there is no ragging. So during admission time, we deployed extra
security guards. There is no way any terror activity could have taken
place," he added.

MAIL TODAY checked the University records to see if Saif, the alleged
terrorist, could in anyway be linked to the university. While 21
students were counselled on August 27 and two on August 26, nobody was
admitted or counselled on August 29, the date mentioned by Rahul
Sharma in the lodge ledger.

But Delhi Police did not wait for this clarification from MIT. Sources
at MAHE, the deemed university that runs MIT, said "we were asked to
pull out the entire list of Muslim students and the entire list of
students from Uttar Pradesh studying in our university for their (the
police's) perusal. The list runs into thousands of names. We have
given the police relevant names, addresses and photographs."
Incidentally, most of the students here come from UP, Delhi, Bihar and
Jharkhand.

sowmya.aji at mailtoday.in