By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net
Hyderabad: The 5000-km long yatra that kicked off from Btla House in Delhi on 12th April with an aim to create awareness regarding illegal arrest of Muslims ended at Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad on 21st April. The caravan named Safar-e-Insaf-o-Bhaichara was organized jointly by Khudai Khidmatgar, National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), Mission Bhartiyam, Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD), National Confederation of Human Rihts Organisations, and Sadbhav Mission.
The members of this exceptional caravan were, Faisal khan of Khudai Khidamatgar from Delhi, Balwant Singh Yadav from Himachal Pradesh, Inamul Hassan from Pondicherry, Advocate Bilal Kaghzi from Gujarat, Mohd. Faizan from Uttar Pradesh, Shabber Hussain from Kashmir, and Rahil iqbal from Delhi.
The caravan reached Hyderabad Saturday. They got a warm reception from local Muslims when they visited the historic Mecca Masjid at 1 pm and offered Zohar prayer there.
Caravan members on reaching Mecca Masjid. [TCN Photo]
The caravan was accompanied by Amjedullah Khan, leader of Majlis Bachao Tehreek (MBT). After Mecca Masjid, the caravan went to the house of Sheikh Abdul Kaleem, one of the accused of Mecca Masjid bomb blast but later acquitted by the court. Kaleem case was exceptional as Assemanand told the police that he gave confessional statement getting impressed by Kaleem, but unlike other acquitted youths in the Mecca Masjid blast case Kaleem was not provided compensation by the A.P govt.
Later the caravan went to the house of Former SIMI leader Maulana Naseeruddin who spent nearly 6 years in Gujarat prison; even his three sons are still in jail allegedly for their association with SIMI.
In the evening a public meeting was organized by Siasat Urdu daily at Mehboob Hussain Jigar hall. In the meeting the caravan members shared their experiences with the audience of their 10 day long yatra covering 5000 kms. The meeting was also addressed by Zahid Ali Khan, editor of Siasat daily. He applauded the efforts of the caravan members for creating awareness among general public about the arrests of innocent Muslim youths.
Lawyer Bilal Kaghzi told TCN, “the yatra has been a huge success; the major achievement of the yatra is that we are able to convince the mainstream activists who were working in different fields like, water sanitation, or land reforms to speak about the arrests of innocent Muslims.” He added, “The IB sleuths use to keep a tab on us, but they and police were unable to stop even a single meeting of ours, as there used to be huge support from the locals, even from non-Muslims.”
Siasat Editor Zahid Ali Khan welcoming the Caravan. [Photo: Amjedullah Khan]
Faisal Khan of Khudai Khidmatgaar said the expenses which they bear towards yatra were just Rs.10, 000-12,000. He said the biggest achievement of the yatra was that many non-Muslims attended there meetings in different states. Speaking about challenges they face during the tour Mr. Khan said, “Sometimes we used to sleep on the platforms, and even there use to be a hectic schedule of public meetings.”
He told TCN that the real aim of the yatra has been to create a sense of security among Muslim youths, that they are not alone in this fight for justice, and the yatra is being successful in crushing stereotypes. He even take a dig at Muslim leaders and mainstream activists by saying that, “our radical Muslim activists instead of giving inflammatory, sentimental speeches from the dais, and increasing the growing apprehensions among Muslims, should work on ground level for creating a sense of brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims.”
He thanked the people of Hyderabad for giving a warm welcome and huge support to the yatra, and even said “we wanted to keep this yatra a low profile, but Hyderabad has certainly made it a big event.”