By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: The Coordination Committee of Indian Muslims, a newly founded umbrella organization to fight onslaught on Muslims in the garb of terrorism, organized a rally at Jantar Mantar.
The rally was attended by leaders of major Muslim organizations, leftist and secular leaders and hundreds of students, youths, social activists, intellectuals and concerned citizens.
The leaders condemned all disruptive and terrorist acts and serial bombings as well as the incidents of State brutality.
Addressing the gathering, Syed Ahmad Bukhari, Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid, blamed the Home Minister for all terrorist activities in the country.
He said if Atif was behind Delhi blasts then who was behind blasts in several mosques across the country including Nanded, Ajmer Dargah, Makka Masjid of Hyderabad.
He came down heavily on the media for tarnishing the image of Islam and Muslims in the garb of terrorism.
While lambasting the state terrorism, the Imam urged Muslim leaders and masses to strengthen the unity among them to take on the attack on the community.
The demonstrators were holding various placards. Some of them read: We want CBI/Judicial enquiry of encounter, We are against terrorism, Stop arresting innocents and Stop state terrorism.
JNU Students Union president demanded role of RSS in all bomb explosions in the country.
Irfanullah Khan, Chairman of Jamia Nagar Coordination Committee, said the bombings and post-bombing operation are aimed at breaking the Muslim community economically and educationally. He said now the police have begun targeting the educated class of the community. Earlier they would target madrasa teachers and students.
He also lambasted the media for projecting the Jamia Nagar area as the hub of terrorism.
Then the rally proceeded towards the Parliament. They were making slogans against the government, police and media. The police stopped them much before the Parliament. Hundreds of policemen were deployed to control the mob.
For some time it seemed as if there would be a clash between the police and public but the Muslim leaders were prompt to control the demonstrators.
Some leaders including Muslim Majlise Mushawarat president Dr. Zafrul Islam Khan, Dr. Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas of All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani of Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind were taken by the police to the PMO where they handed a memorandum.
Following are the demands:
1) The Government of India should take note of the pertinent questions raised by several citizens’ inquiry teams about the questionable nature of the 19 September 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.
2) Without proper inquiry and tangible evidence, no person or organization should be blamed for terrorist acts.
3) 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.
4) The heavy police deployment in Okhla since 19 September 2008 should be withdrawn forthwith in order to remove uncertainty, sense of insecurity prevailing in the area.
5) Harassment of common people in Delhi should be stopped. Landlords should not be harassed and coerced into evicting their tenants.
6) Police should desist from torture and third degree methods and should respect the guidelines of the Supreme Court in this regard.
7) Even minors are being picked up by the Police. They should be immediately released.
8) Some of the arrested students have clear evidence available of their innocence. They should be immediately released.
9) In conducting raids and detaining people for questioning, the police should take the residents associations and leading personalities of the area into confidence.
10) The media must be made to behave in a responsible, unbiased and impartial manner. The rally condemns 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.
11) 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.
The signatories of the memorandum included Mujtaba Farooq, Convenor, Coordination Committee & Secretary, Jamaat-e Islami Hind, Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, President, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, Ml. Abdul Hameed Nomani, Acting General Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind, Ml. Abdul Wahab Khilji, Asstt General Secretary, All India Milli Council, Ml. Mahmoodul Hasan, President, Jamiat Ahl-e Hadees, Delhi Pradesh, Dr Taslim Rahmani, President, Muslim Political Council, Ml. Zeeshan Hidayati, Chairman, Majlis-e Fikr-o Amal and Irfanullah Khan, Chairman Jamia Nagar Coordination Committee.