Indian Muslims continue to face harassment
By Indianmuslims.info Staff

Muslims in India continue to live in constant fear of being harassed, humiliated and detained anytime anywhere as the police and intelligence agencies have been beating around the bush since the 11th July terror attack on a Mumbai suburb train. Though hundreds of Muslims detained on mere suspicion as part of investigation into the serial blasts have been released for lack of evidence against them, some are still in police custody or behind the bars, some new persons are being detained, and Muslims landing on Indian airports or those going abroad are being harassed as part of security measures. This unfortunate situation coupled with the ultranationalists’ bid to disturb communal harmony at some places paints a sordid picture of the plural society that India is. The Urdu vernacular Press has been live to the situation as it beats the mainstream English and Hindi dailies in presenting the real picture of the situation prevailing here.

On August 10 all Urdu dailies carried the UNI report of arrest of three SIMI (Students Islamic Movement, now banned) workers – Shakil Warsi Abdul Naseer (32), Shakir Ahmed Naseer (27) and Muhammad Rehan Khan Ataullah Khan (21) – from different parts of Nagpur for their alleged contact with the terrorist organisations that ripped Mumbai suburb train on July 11 and had earlier made unsuccessful attempt to attack RSS headquarters in the city. The police also claimed to have seized CDs and “provocative� literature from their custody.

The Rashtriya Sahara of August 15 reported the detention of two other SIMI workers –editor of a religious magazine Al-Sunnah and proprietor of Al-Sunnah Publications Najeeb Baquai alias Muhammad Najeeb Abdul Rasheed (41) from Mumbai and Irfan Anjum Ali Syed (24) from Santa Cruz under Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).

The Hindustan Express of August 10 covers the detaining of 13 foreign Muslim nationals from a mosque in Roorkie in the State of Uttaranchal. They were charged of working with Tablighi Jamaat here in India while on visit visa. Senior Superintendent of Police Abhimanu Kumar reportedly said that the victims’ passports have been red-marked that they have violated Indian law and their names have been included in the list of unwelcome persons. They were told to leave the country within a week or face the music.

The Express of August 13 ran a 5-column story Mumbai ka insadad-e-dahshatgardi dasta sanghi aaquaoan key isharey per aqliyaton ko badnam kar raha hai (Mumbai’s anti-terrorist squad is defaming minorities at the will of Sangh masters). Member of All India Congress Working Committee and former Union Minister for Railways C.K. Jafar Sharief said it seems R.S.S and its allied parties Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and Shiv Sena, etc. have succeeded in their shameful attempt to turn our dear country into a “torture cell� for Muslims. Instead of arresting the real culprits of Mumbai bomb blasts and giving stringent punishment to them, the government machinery especially A.T.S. (Anti Terrorism Squad) of Mumbai Police, under the planning of their Sangh (Parivar) masters, has started to play the shameful game of slandering minorities and proving Muslims to be terrorists and anti-nationals. It is a serious threat to the solidarity and stability of the country.

In a press statement, the story maintained, he said that instead of uncovering the real culprits the government’s secret agencies are targeting Muslims without any investigation and without any proof. The achievement of A.T.S. is that it is standing today where it was on July 11. Yet it is detaining Muslims like goats and sheep and creating a situation of hatred and misunderstanding in the country. Its method (of dealing with the situation) smacks not only of communalism but of Fascism and Nazism as well, the veteran Congressman said in unambiguous terms.

Expressing his concern on the failure of police in identifying the real culprits of Mumbai blasts even after the passage of over one month, Khalid Sheikh in his article Dhamakon ke liye musalmanon ko hadaf banana chey ma’ni darad? (What it means to target Muslims for blasts?), published in the Inquilab (August 17), writes: “To deal with an extraordinary incident it is necessary to widen the scope of investigation, rising above the traditional methods and concepts so that no stone is left unturned… The police and A.T.S. did not do it. Their investigation is moving around Muslim areas. The police have taken it for granted that the perpetrators of the blasts could be none but Muslims while there are such forces operating in the country as have been found involved in such activities. And then there is a group of opportunists in our country who are well-versed in tarnishing the image of Muslims to serve their petty political ends in such a situation.�

Mr. Sheikh concludes his article thus: “Presenting these details aims at highlighting the conspiracy being hatched in a well-planned manner to keep Muslims away from the national mainstream – a conspiracy in which government agencies are hand in glove with anti-Muslim forces. Terrorists are friends to none. In the present context they have proved to be the greatest enemy of humanity, Islam and Muslims. The sooner the government, its administration and the police realise it the better it be for the stability and unity of the country. Targeting only Muslims for the blasts is hypocrisy. Muslims too need to be quite alert in this situation.�

This past week witnessed at least two communal flare-ups in North Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. In a 6-column news story the Express of August 10 reports communalists’ attack with lathis and iron rods on the Muslims of village Tehri in Saharanpur district of U.P., in which Shahid, 20, was killed, dozens of Muslims were injured, their shops looted and later set on fire. The police arrived at the site of incident only after the passage of two hours during which the Hindu extremists kept on playing the naked dance of death and destruction, loot and arson.

Another place that witnessed communal tension is Mau. The Sahara of August 15 reports the communalists’ bid to create communal violence in Mau once again. Though no casualty was reported, an attempt was made to ablaze a mosque situated in Neyaz Muhammad Pur Rauza under Kotwali police station by throwing from outside burning pieces of cloth into the mosque, burning prayer mats, etc. therein. People in large numbers came on the road and the situation soon turned tense.

Indian Muslims wonder why their democratically elected representatives are behaving like the Hitlers and the Nazis. Why don’t they realise the enormity of the situation? Don’t they think they will have to go back to the large segments of masses to beg for votes?

17 August 2006