Aasmohammad kaif |Twocircles.net
Meerut
The anti CAA protests across Uttar Pradesh has claimed 21 lives out of which 6 were from Meerut. And of these, 5 have been buried in Meerut and one in Delhi. These families live in the narrow lanes of Meerut in small cramped houses that are not even their own. Many of these houses do not even have proper walls and doors or curtains.
Yet these people displayed a great sense of courage and strength when we went to meet them despite their heavy loss. Those who died were all from working class labour families and except for one, all were married.
The courage shown was Munshi 75 years who lost his 42 year old son who had a daughter of marriageable age; the same courage was shown by 60 year old Nasiba who lost her 22 year old grandson son who was the breadwinner of the family; and then there was 25 year old Imrana whose husband died when the bullet tore through his chest and came out from the other side while her 6 month old infant has been orphaned, is exemplary.
Their courage leaves you spell bound. 40 year old Mohammed Azad says, “ History is a witness that the people of Meerut have always fought and are known for their refusal to bow down before brute forces. The 1857 revolt began from here and Mangal Pandey was martyred here in Meerut. At that time people gave their lives that a constitution can come into force and today people are giving their lives to protect the same constitution”.
On the other hand there is 65 year old Asif’s neighbor Kallu who does not even know what the citizenship Act is and what the protests are all about. However he says, “ This government does not care about us. Whatever they do, they are always against us. Nothing they have done so far has been for our good. Now I hear they want us to go away. I was born here and now I am old and now I don’t even want to live long, I don’t have that zest”. he says
Asif’s brother-in-law tells us that Asif was shot by the police in the back and he hid himself. After the police left they saw him bleeding and took him to the hospital. But private hospitals refused to treat him and when they took him to the Government hospital he had breathed his last.
Asif has 3 children, one of whom is a 6 month old toddler. His wife Imrana is in the ‘iddat’ period. Talking to a female colleague of ours, she said, “ Death is certain for every living being. But my husband has been martyred . This is cruel and unjust and Allah is a witness to all these and will avenge my husband’s death.”
Asif’s parents are both dead and he did not have any brothers. He was living in a rented house in the ‘ghante ki gali’. He worked on putting the rubber over old tyres.
Next to this lane is the ‘jaali waali gali’ where 44 year old Zahir’s house is located. Zahir was also shot on Friday. His 20 year old daughter said, “ Abbu said he is going to smoke a Beedi and went out but in a short while we heard fire shots and got scared. The police had entered our lane.”
Zahir’s best friend Shameem witnessed the scene when his friend was shot. He narrated that he saw Zahir sitting on the ‘chabutra’ and smoking his beedi when suddenly he fell down. “The police had barged in the lane and began firing indiscriminately. I was there, I lifted him up and then dialed 100 for an ambulance. But no ambulance came. So we put him in a mini truck and took him to a hospital but the police threatened us. The postmortem was conducted in the night itself and we were told to finish the burial quickly. So in the early hours at 6 am with just a few members of the family we buried Zahir.”
Some people from the Muslim League of Kerala visited the houses of the martyrs to give them condolences. The leader of Muslim League C K Zubair said, “ The police of UP have shown more cruelty than the Britishers. The CM of this state is a dangerous person, all these things are being carried out at his behest. These are targeted killings as it is clearly evident from the fact that all the person have been shot on their chest.”
On 19th December there were a lot of people on the streets after the prayers. The police say that there was stone pelting which forced them to open fire due to which 6 people died and several injured. However the locals say that the police opened fire.
Imran, brother of Mohsin who hailed from Gulzar mohala said, “ My brother Mohsin had gone out to buy fodder for the cows. But in the firing the bullet hit him on the head and he fell down. People tried to save him but he could not be saved. He was a very tough guy amongst us 6 brothers. Besides he was least interested in politics and was not even present for the protests. Yet the police called him a rowdy while the newspapers have labeled him as a rioter. My brother is innocent.”
His uncle Ayub standing next to him said consolingly “ Let them call our children as rioters and rowdies. We know the truth that they have given their lives for the nation and that they are martyrs.”
“All the persons who were killed are from poor working class and earn about Rs.300 per day. They never indulged in any anti-social activities nor do they have any case against them. They were not interested in politics either. The police shot them deliberately . The sigh of the oppressed is a strong one and these killings have made them martyrs,” Ayub added.
The deceased Zahir, Asif and Mohsin all live close by whereas Aalim and Asif live in lanes No 9 and 10 respectively. Aalim, 21 years worked in a power loom factory. He was married a month back. And he was so poor that his house did not even have a door but a cloth hung in place of the door. In his house lives his old father and a handicapped brother who are shocked beyond words due to his death.
Asif, 22 years is the only person amongst the dead ones who is unmarried. The police have framed charges of conspiracy against Asif. The Meerut police say that this was a planned riot and youth came from Delhi for the protest and that Asif also came from Delhi for the protests.
His mother says that “ My son used to drive a autorickshaw in Delhi from the last 5 years. And he comes home every Friday to meet us. And on that day he did not turn up home . Then we saw his photo on the mobile phone and so far we have not even been given the postmortem report. And we don’t know if our report has been taken down or not. He was the sole bread winner of our family. Even if he was participating in the protest should they shoot him dead? Is this justice? How can the government be so cruel? They don’t treat us as their citizens. No political leader has come to our house to pay condolence. Our son’s body was shown to us when we went along with Rafiq Ansari, the leader of the town. But I am not sad because Allah will help us.”
None of these people have got the postmortem reports. Technically though, they have all died due to police firing. But the DGP of Uttar Pradesh denies the fact that these people have been killed due to police firings. Even though the Bijnour police say that Suleman died due to the bullet wound which the police claimed was fired in defence.
Police superintendent of Meerut Ajay Sahani says that it was a planned riot where in the PFI was instigating the people and the people became violent. They have also arrested some youth associated with PFI. The police claim that they have the video footage of the day’s incident wherein the people were firing at the police and that there was cross firing so it is not clear whose bullets killed the people. This can be ascertained only after investigation.
