By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
Patna: Once again, TwoCircles.net has led the Indian news media on Muslim community issues. On June 28, we published a story about a Bihar youth who was stopped twice by police at IGI Airport from going to Qatar, and interrogated as a terror suspect. The story forced the media to take it seriously, ultimately forcing Union Home Minister P Chidambaram to intervene to help the Sitamarhi.
The Delhi and Patna editions of Hindustan Times today (July 2) carried a story titled Bihar man grounded by a prank mail. The story says Ataur Rahman (30) wanted to resume his job at Doha in Qatar. He booked a ticket on May 27 from Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI). When he was about to board the flight, immigration officials stopped him. Soon officers of the Special Cell came and they grilled him for 11 hours. They asked him how many times he has visited Pakistan and what kind of weapons he can handle.
The paper says the police interrogated him because a look out notice against a person named Ataur Rahman was issued by agencies after a mail claiming Rahman is connected with terror groups.
The Delhi edition of Indian Express also carried a story today on the plight of Sitamarhi youth: Bihar man detained, questioned twice at IGI. The paper says “a man from Bihar was allegedly detained at the airport and questioned twice because his name matched with that of a possible terror suspect. Nothing was, however, found against Attaur Rahman on both occasions and he was released. The youth from Sitamarhi in Bihar, however, is now worried about getting clearance to fly to Doha (Qatar) for work before his visa expires in October.”
Passport of Attaur Rahman
The paper further says: “A senior immigration official said, “We had information about a man with the name of Atta-ur Rahman, so he was stopped and questioned. But we did not find anything against him and he was let off.”
In the June 28 report Bihar youth stopped from taking flight at Delhi Airport, twice in 15 days, TwoCircles.net had brought to light the plight of 30-year-old Ataur Rahman from Sitamarhi district in Bihar. In a short period of 15 days Rahman was twice stopped from taking flight to Qatar at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi by immigration officials at the behest of Special Cell of Delhi Police. Father of an 8-month-old baby girl and son of a Bihar police officer, Rahman was interrogated for more than 17 hours as a terror suspect and was exposed to humiliating questions including ones related to terror.
Rahman was all set to take a flight for Doha (Qatar) on May 27 at IGI Airport. When he approached the Immigration desk for clearance, the officials stopped him and took him aside. Soon after the sleuths from the Special Cell of Delhi Police arrived and interrogated him about 11 hours. He was asked about ‘arms training and visits to Pakistan.’ But after questioning he was let off. But the same happened with him again on June 11 when he tried to take a flight for Qatar. He was questioned for hours. The officials told him they had got email regarding his connection with terror activities.
Taking note of the TwoCircles.net report, Dr M Manzoor Alam, Secretary General of All India Milli Council, had on June 30 wrote to Union Home Minister P Chidambaram urging him to intervene to stop such humiliating incidents.
The Hindu on July 1 covered Dr Alam’s letter to the Home Minister. The paper said: “Mr. Alam drew his attention to two recent news reports, and said that while these cases of harassment had come to light, there were many that had gone unreported. The first case, reported on the website TwoCircles.net, was that of Chand, 28, from Sitamarhi in Bihar who, in the space of a fortnight, was stopped twice at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport and prevented from taking a flight to Qatar. He was detained and asked questions about the weapons he had been trained to use. The airport staff sent him back home, only to subject him to the same humiliation 15 days later when he turned up with a fresh air ticket.”
The Hindustan Times report says Union Home Minister has intervened to withdraw the ‘Look Out Circular’ notice against the man who was detained at IGI airport on charges of terrorism.
Quoting a Delhi Police officer, the paper says: “The anonymous person sent mails to various agencies following which a circular was invoked against Rehman. We interrogated him and found that he is innocent. Now we have written to all agencies concerned to withdraw the circular against him and have submitted a report to the Ministry of Home Affairs.”
Visa of Attaur Rahman
There is nothing objectionable or suspicious on Ataur Rahman’s passport or visa. It means he was a latest example of victimisation of Muslims in the country.
The sad part of the entire episode is that no Urdu papers and no community leaders except Dr Manzoor Alam took notice of the story though they were informed about the incident through sms and email on June 28 itself.