By TCN Staff Reporter,
Saharanpur (UP): Lately there have been many incidents which prove that all is not well in Saharanpur, a district in Western UP. Within the span of just a week three mishaps related to attack on the religious freedom of Muslims and attempt to disturb communal harmony have been reported.
In Barkeda Sadat village in Saharanpur district, the whole controversy started when the Muslims of the area established a mosque in the month of Ramadan, as they were performing daily prayers in some body’s house for last many years. The majority community strongly objected to this, saying that because earlier there was no mosque,
there shouldn’t be one now. The conflict over this took a nasty turn when reportedly
administration mediated between the two warring groups. According to the compromised reached, Muslims can perform prayer together only till the month of Ramadan. After Eid, there won’t be any collective prayer for Muslims.
Feeling vulnerable: Muslims of Saharanpur. [Photo by tk sailo]
In another instance of attack on the religious freedom of religious minorities, on 18th of August, in Dhakdai village in Saharanpur district for instance, few upper caste Hindus, allegedly associated with the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) demanded to stop the use of loud speakers in the village mosque for prayer calls, fast-breaking and sehri. Importantly, that is the only mosque in that village of which Muslims constitute just 10%.
They not only threatened the local Muslims who are mainly labor and therefore very poor, but also forced the local administration to get the loudspeakers removed. Now the situation is that the majority community has decided to boycott, the local Muslims at all levels; socially, educationally and economically. No body will sell milk to them; no school will admit Muslim children and no Hindu will talk to the local Muslims, as per the decisions taken in the local panchayat.
Amost the same reason was behind the violent attacks on the Muslims of Khadlana,in Sahranpur. Homes of the local Muslims were looted by the right wing goons and the local police administration registered First Information Reports (FIRs) against Muslims themselves, when they went to the police station to register their complain.The situation now is that two Muslims have been reportedly arrested.Muslims have fled from the village and have approached Imran Masood, the MLA of the nearby area, Muzaffarabad, requesting him to make them available some land. They want to migrate from their own village to some other place.
“The situation is very disturbing in the whole district of Saharanpur. It’s not BJP but the BSP, who is playing Hindu cards in UP these days,” said Imran Masood.
Talking to TwoCircles.net, Mr. Masood alleged that BSP won the Saharanpur parliamentary seat only after creating these kinds of communal tensions which led to the polarization of votes. He was also very apprehensive of possible outbreak of communal riots in the district after verdict on the Ayodhya-Babri Mosque title suit, which is expected on September 16.