By TCN News,
New Delhi: The British Indian Muslims group, Council of Indian Muslims—COIM (UK), has expressed concern over anti-Muslim violence and illegal detentions and encounters of Muslim youths in India. COIM has deplored the pre-planned communal riots in Bareily and now in Hyderabad and the government’s decision not to order a judicial probe into the Batla House encounter, a demand made by not only Muslims but several human rights groups.
Deploring the recent flare up of anti-Muslim riots in the south Indian city of Hyderabad, Chairman of Council of Indian Muslims—COIM (UK) Mr Mohammad Munaf Zeena said, “All the reports coming from the riot torn city suggest that these riots were pre-planned and Muslim youths are being targeted and arrested indiscriminately”.
“Hindutwa fascists are hell bent upon creating an atmosphere of hate and distrust against Muslims and use such an environment to harass and inflict maximum economic, social and moral harm upon them. Last month they engineered riots in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, and now have targeted Hyderabad. The saddest aspect and most common feature of these premeditated and well orchestrated crimes is that the provincial and central governments usually turn a blind eye to these sins, no action is taken against the perpetrators and the negligent and accomplice officials are allowed to go unquestioned and unpunished.”
Mr Zeena expressed concern over repeated rejection by the government of the demand for judicial probe into the September 2008 Batla encounter in which two Muslim youths were shot dead and a police inspector was killed.
“It is not only the non-Congress ruled states where Muslims are at the receiving end, the situation in Delhi is even more abysmal. It was here that the notorious September 2008 Batla House encounter had taken place in which two Muslim youths were mercilessly gunned down and a police officer lost his life. Not only Muslims’ demand to launch independent inquiry into the so called encounter has been rejected, the toothless National Human Rights Commission was made to toe police’s line and indict the deceased youths instead. However, the post-mortem report of the youths has established that they were killed at close range and has proved beyond doubt that police’s stories of the encounter were shameless fabrication to defame and damn the whole community on the pretext of which Uttar Pradesh police continue to harass and abduct Muslim youths from Azamgarh. It is something of an evil alliance between the Delhi and Uttar Pradesh governments against the Muslims of India” Zeena added.
Zeena also said, “If Mr Manmohan Singh was honest in his pre-election assurance given to Urdu editors in Delhi that he understood the pain and anguish of Muslim parents whose children were unfairly targeted and arrested, he has to prove it.”
“As far as Ms Mayawati’s treatment of Muslims in UP is concerned, it is not much different than Modi’s in Gujarat post anti-Muslim pogroms.”
Zeena demanded immediate action to restore peace in Hyderabad, punish the guilty officers in Hyderabad and Bareilly riots, conduct an inquiry into Batla House encounter and stop the ongoing illegal and inhuman harassments of Muslims in Azamgarh.