By TCN News,
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh unit of Popular Front of India has demanded the state government to withdraw the alleged police circular to collect information about the ‘Zakat’ collected in the month of Ramzan by the members of the group. The group termed the circular highly objectionable.
Muhammed Arif Ahmed, state president of Popular Front of India has demanded the Chief Minister and Home Minister of Andhra Pradesh “to withdraw with immediate effect the controversial circular reportedly issued by Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) directing the police officials to collect information about the ‘Zakat’ collected in the month of Ramzan by members of Popular Front of India.”
“Popular Front is a social organization initiated by members of the Muslim community and it is working in several states for empowering the people. It is a registered organisation with headquarters in New Delhi and state office in Kurnool. Various programmes are being undertaken by the organisation in the areas of educational promotion, economic upliftment, social service and calamity relief throughout the country including the state of Andhra Pradesh. It is an open truth that we are consistently campaigning for social justice for the exploited classes and against communal and fascist forces that threatens the unity and integrity of India,” Ahmed said.
“It is highly prejudiced and hence objectionable that the State Police Department has ordered to probe Ramzan fund collection of Popular Front. Moreover, collecting details of the ‘Zakat’ donors and recipients is a clear case of infringement of the religious right of minorities,” he said.
Ahmed further said that Popular Front is neither banned nor working underground. None of its members have been so far booked in any terror acts. This organization is not connected to any other outfit, terrorist or not, outside India. But the news reports have quoted ‘police sources’ to allege that Popular Front is “involved in militant activities” and that “the organization’s link to international terror organisations has been uncovered”. Such baseless allegations, if they are actually based on any police source, can only be viewed as the handiwork of communal fascist agents who have infiltrated into some top cadres of state police department.
It is not the first time that the Andhra Pradesh police department, in spite of the fact that it is being controlled by a secular state government headed by Congress, has illustrated communal bias and targeted the minority community. Many innocent Muslim youth had been taken into illegal police custody and tortured in the name of probing Mecca Masjid blasts which were actually engineered by Hindutva communal outfits. When the police intelligence is bothered about even the Muslim religious right of ‘Zakat’ disbursement, it is surprising that the funding source of the various Hindutva communal outfits is not at all a matter of concern for them.
Muhammad Arif Ahmed has called upon the state government to clean up the state police intelligence agencies from the infiltration of communal fascist agents. He warned that if steps are not taken to free the state police department from communal bias, minority community organisations and civil rights groups will launch joint agitations all over the state.