TwoCircles.net news desk
In a press statement Indian Muslim Leaders in the United States condemned the multiple bomb blasts in Uttar Pradesh and appeal to all communities to maintain harmony.
According to the preliminary media reports, three near-simultaneous bomb blasts have killed 13 people in three cities the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP), the state government says. The blasts took place in the court premises and it is presumed that the perpetrators were targeting the lawyers community as the lawyers had recently beaten up some alleged terrorist suspects and had refused to defend them in the courts.
Calling the bombings as a terrorist acts, Dr. Shaik Ubaid, the founding president of ImanNet, a Muslim advocacy group and one of the national coordinators of Coalition Against Genocide, said that such actions are cowardly crimes against humanity. He urged the central and state governments to conduct a speedy and transparent investigation and to punish the perpetrators to the fullest extent of the law.
Dr. Ubaid also urged the government, media and the civil society leaders in India to address the root causes that might make terrorism and militancy attractive to the persecuted segments of the society, the lower castes, the outcastes (Dalits) and the Muslims, who have been victimized systematically through discrimination and government sponsored pogroms. “The victims of the recent pogroms in Nandigram at the hands of the Communist party workers were mostly Dalits and Muslims who were murdered and raped. If prompt remedial actions are not taken then the militant Naxalite movement will gain more supporters. Similarly the perpetrators of the Gujarat pogrom who killed and raped thousands of Muslims are still free and their supporters are involved in raising funds in the United States. The impunity practiced by these extremists will increase the despair and among the oppressed segments of the society,” Dr. Ubaid said.
Saeed Patel, one of the national Coordinators of Non Resident Indians for a Secular and Harmonious India expressed sympathy for the victims and the families and praised the local government’s announcement that it would provide immediate financial relief to the victims.
Syed Azmathullah Quadri, the founding chairman of ImanNet, appealed to all communities in India to strengthen communal harmony and not to let the perpetrators of terrorism succeed in increasing communal hatred. He urged the NRI community in the US to be wary of communal forces and to strengthen broad-based coalitions such as Coalition Against Genocide and Indian American Coalition for Pluralism.
These leaders along with Nasir Chhipa a community leader of Gujaratis in Greater Washington, DC Area, were participating in a meeting to help Indian Muslim Relief and Charities arrange the tour of a prominent Indian journalist. They appealed to the NRI community in the US to attend the programs being held in New York, Santa Clara and other cities to felicitate Tarun Tejpal, the editor of Tehelka weekly investigative magazine. Tehelka recently conducted a sting operation where the members of ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, The World Hindu Council and Bajrang Dal were proudly seen describing their role in the massacres during the Gujarat pogrom