Report of the four-member NCM team’s visit to Hyderabad
A four-member team of the National Commission for Minorities (NCM)
visited Hyderabad on 4-5 February 2008 to enquire into complaints against
authorities in Andhra Pradesh for allegedly targeting Muslims and Christians
in the state. On the issues faced by the Muslim minority, the main
complainants were Ms. Nirmala Deshpande, Member of Parliament, and Ms.
Nandita Rao, advocate in New Delhi. They had forwarded to the NCM
detailed reports filed by the Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee and by a
fact-finding commission set up the AP State Minorities Commission. On the
issues faced by the Christian community, the NCM had received reports and
memoranda from various Church groups.
Vice-Chairperson M.P. Pinto led the team. Its other members included Mr.
Harcharan Singh Josh, Dr. Dileep Padgaonkar and Prof. Zoya Hasan.
During its stay in Hyderabad the NCM team met relatives of individuals
who were killed, injured or detained in the Mecca Masjid bomb blast on
May 18, 2007 and in the bomb blasts at Lumbini Park and the Gokul Chat
eatery on August 25, 2007; representatives of NGOs, political parties and
religious organizations; academics and journalists; Mr. Mohammad Ali
Shabbir, the minister in charge of minority welfare affairs; Mr. Yusuf
Qureshi, Chairman, AP State Minority Commission; high-ranking police
officials and civil servants; and detainees in the Charlapalli prison. A
delegation of the team also called on the governor, Mr. N.D. Tewari, to
apprise him of the team’s mission.

ISSUES FACING THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY
The main allegation contained in the documents sent to the NCM – and
which was reiterated by the interlocutors of the NCM team – related to the
failure of the police to observe the due process of law while investigating the
three bomb blasts in Hyderabad in 2007. Examples of this alleged
dereliction of duty include the following:
- disregarding established procedures, the police fired indiscriminately
into the crowd fleeing the Mecca Masjid after the blasts which
resulted in the death of at least six persons

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http://www.indianmuslims.info/files/NCM_hyd2008feb.pdf