By IINA,
New Delhi : Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has proposed a joint panel consisting of Muslim leaders and top intelligence and security officials to stop the harassment of young Muslims across India in the name of the “fight against terrorism”.
He was talking to the leaders of India’s major Islamic organizations, which called on him to intervene to end the harassment of Muslim youths. The delegation consisted of the leaders of the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Jamiat Ulma-e-Hind, the Muslim Personal Law Board (MPLB) and the Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, reported Pak daily newspaper Daily Times. The leaders expressed their concerns on the security of Muslims in India and complained of random arrests and media trials of Muslim youth.
Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat President Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan said the prime minister expressed sympathy towards the delegation members and proposed the joint mechanism.
However, he was sceptical of the effectiveness of such a panel. Another member of the delegation, Dr. Qasim Rasool Ilyas, said the leaders presented detailed cases of such harassment at the hands of Indian intelligence agencies across the country. He said there were several cases when security agencies had asked the media to conduct media trials to influence the judiciary.
Dr Ilyas, a spokesman of the Muslim Personal Law Board, said they had asked Singh to stop the “profiling of Muslims” — a project started by the Home Ministry. Something happens somewhere and it is linked to Islam and Muslims. Security agencies immediately arrest Muslim youth, torture them and then try them in the media, which builds up stories against them,” he added. He said the negative image portrayed by the media influenced judiciary. The leaders also said that prejudice against Muslims was growing among police and security agencies.