By TwoCircles.net news desk,
New Delhi: A delegation of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) headed by its vice president, Prof. Siddique Hassan met Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State, Home Affairs, and apprised him of its concerns over Batla House encounter and developments that followed.
The delegation discussed in detail about harassment Indian Muslims by security agencies, police and media especially electronic media. A memorandum was submitted with him to forward it to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. Dr. Shakeel sympathetically listened to the grievances of the delegation and promised to forward the memorandum to the Prime Minister.
The other members of delegation were Dr. S Q R Ilyas, Member, Central Advisory Committee, JIH and Mr. Irfanullah Khan, Convenor, Jamia Nagar Coordination Committee, New Delhi.
The memorandum says that the “Government of India should take note of the pertinent questions raised by several citizens’ inquiry teams about the questionable nature of the September 19, 2008 “encounter” at Batla House, Jamia Nagar. A high-level judicial time-bound enquiry should be conducted into the whole incident to find out the truth and its findings must be made public.”
The JIH has demanded that all innocent persons picked up by the police in Delhi, Azamgarh, Mumbai and other places should be immediately released. No one should be arrested without substantial grounds which should be made public.
Police should desist from torture and third degree methods and should respect the guidelines of the Supreme Court in this regard, reads the memorandum.
“Some of the arrested students have clear evidence available of their innocence. They should be immediately released,” the delegation said.
Condemning the media coverage of the incidents, the delegation said: “The media must be made to behave in a responsible, unbiased and impartial manner. We condemn the blatant anti-Muslim bias exhibited by a section of the media which rushes to conclusions, blows up and in effect blames the whole Muslim community and entire regions of committing/abetting terrorism. We demand from the Govt. to enact a law to control electronic media.”
Another important demand mentioned in the memorandum is lifting of the ban on Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
“The Government should respect the verdict of the Justice Geeta Mittal Tribunal and lift the ban on the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). It should note that dozens of former SIMI activists have been acquitted by courts across the country,” reads the memorandum.