By IANS,
Lucknow : As investigations into the recent terrorist attacks across the country zero in on several youngsters from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati Sunday vowed to prevent the harassment of common Muslims in the name of combating terrorism.
“I wish to reassure all Muslims that no one will be allowed to target common Muslims in the name of the terrorist hunt,” Mayawati said at a press conference at her official residence here.
“Officials have been told in no uncertain terms to ensure that the entire Muslim community is not blamed for spreading terror,” the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader said.
“I have made it clear to my officials that under no circumstances should innocent Muslims be harassed and that fake encounters will not be tolerated at any cost,” she added.
However, she clarified that she had no intention of going soft on terrorism and said she had convened a high-level meeting here Monday to chalk out a renewed strategy to get to the roots of terrorism.
Referring to the Uttar Pradesh connections of key suspects involved in the recent serial blasts in New Delhi, she expressed deep concern over the repeated emergence of certain parts of the state as a haven for terrorists.
Delhi Police have nabbed five of the 13 supected terrorists who were allegedly behind the Sep 13 New Delhi blasts and the July 26 Ahmedabad blasts. All 13 of them are from Azamgarh village.
Mayawati said: “We must flush out the real terrorists if they are in the hiding anywhere in Uttar Pradesh.
“We are capable of eradicating terrorism completely from the map of Uttar Pradesh provided the central government extends the desired support and cooperation to us.”
She accused her arch-rival and Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav for patronizing terrorism and pro-terror activists.
“Samajwadi Party leaders including MP Abu Azmi had openly joined Maulana Ahmed Bukhari at a rally in Azamgarh to protest against the arrest of Abu Bashir whose involvement in the Ahmedabad blasts stood fully exposed,” she said.
“My predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav’s government was responsible for fuelling terrorism and for the state’s deteriorating law and order situation. If the Samajwadi Party government had remained tough and nipped terror in the bud, Uttar Pradesh would not have earned the bad name as home to many terrorists,” she pointed out.