By TwoCircles.net Staff reporter,
New Delhi: People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Rajasthan has criticized the Rajasthan Police allegations that some Muslim businessmen associated with Jamaat e Islami (JIH) are buying properties of poor Hindus and building mosques.
On the 14th of August, 2014, the PUCL obtained a confidential letter dated 15th July, 2014, issued by Additional Director General Police (Intelligence), Rajasthan Special Branch, Rajasthan Jaipur, to the District Collector, Jaipur and Police Commissioner Jaipur, regarding construction of Masjids. The letter alleges that “poor Hindu Community members, who live next to Muslim Abadi areas, are being provided with incentives (pralobhan) and their land sold for the Construction of religious places. It alleges that Dr Iqbal of the Jamait-Islami-Hind is the caretaker of a fund that is buying houses and properties of the Hindus in Hindu Bastis. The main supporters of this endeavour are the Industrialists, Habib Garnet, Sriaj Takat, Haji Rafat, Naeem Quereshi, Pappu Ouereshi, Gaffar Bhai Tent wala, Sohrabuddin and Bilal etc. These people meet clandestinely on a monthly or weekly basis at Darbar Hotel in order to plan activities for the above agenda.”
Photo of Pink City used for Illustration purpose only.
The letter further states that the above people have constructed the Noor Masjid situated in Hazarat Ali Colony and four others are under construction which are i) Nai Ka Makaaan Sita Ram Puri, Fakiron ki Doongri, ii) Krishna Colony, Shiv Mandir ke Pass, iii) Nandpuri, Brahmapuri, iv) Plot number 14, Wahab Bhai Hazarat Ali Colony.
They therefore requested the Collector and the Jaipur Police Commissioner to appropriately intervene and investigate the matter.
The matter was also reported a day later in Hindi dailies, Dainik Bhaskar and Punjab Kesari.
Realizing the gravity of the content of the letter and fearing that the right wing Hindutva forces might misuse it as pretext to create communal frenzy, PUCL immediately held a meeting and decided to prepare a fact finding report.
A broad based team consisting of our State President Prem Krishan Sharma, Joint Secretary Sawai Singh, Ashok Khandelwal Economist and Raashid Hussein, executive member of the state PUCL along with Kavita Srivastava, General Secretary state PUCL and national Secretary first met some members of the Jamait-Islami-Hind and asked them to give their view on this letter as it had allegations against the organisation and its senior member Dr. Iqbal.
They later visited the Ram Garh link road where alleged deals were happening, particularly the Noor Masjid. Hazarat Ali Colony; Masjid Jaitoon: Plot number 14, Wahab Bhai Hazarat Ali Colony; Unconstructed Masjid (Empty plot with boundary), Krishna Colony, opposite Shiv Mandir; Ayesha Masjid, Anand Colony, II, near Fakiron ki Doongri; and talked to the people there, both Hindus and Muslims. They also met the businessmen whose names have been alleged in the letter.
The PUCL fact finding team observed that “the situation on the ground is very different compared to what has been stated in the letter of ADGI,” adding, “It is very clear that the letter of the Additional Director General Intelligence is baseless and is trying to create a situation of communal fall out.”
“Nowhere did it seem a situation of sale due to incentives by the Muslim community to the poor Hindu. Instead the land where the Masjids had come up were not done in a dubious way to throw out a Hindu owner,” they further added.
The fact finding report also trashed the allegations against Dr. Iqbal of the JIH saying that it is “absolutely fabricated.” There was no relationship between the Masjid construction, the Masjid committees and Dr, Iqbal, they added.
“In fact he had met the people for the first time, along with visiting the area for the first time. It is some sinister to malign Dr. Iqbal and Jamait Islami Hind as they are the loudest voice, raising atrocities against the Muslim community,” the fact finding report points out.
On land purchases the fact finding report added, “The purchases of properties seem to be part of regular property deals. The deals are spread over decades and mostly have been bought by individuals with their own money for their own use. Sale and purchases have been reported by both the communities,” adding, “The Mosques have also been constructed over time. They are registered with Waqf Board.”
PUCL noted that the content of letter is based on “misinformation and distortion and manipulation of facts,” and also criticized the leaking of the controversial letter calling it part of “mischievous game plan of some vested interests with ulterior motives of flaring social tensions/ polarizing communities on religious grounds in the areas concerned for some future gain.”
PUCL has hence demanded that “this letter be withdrawn and action be taken against those who maliciously worked on this to target a particular community and certain individuals and the Jamait – Islami Hind and their workers.”
They also demand a probe into the how this letter leaked from the Jaipur Police Commissioner’s office and came into the public domain. The leak is to create trouble within communities and cause disharmony between the people, they added.