Unheard & Unspoken: Terror stories from Madhya Pradesh: Part 3
By Mohd. Ismail Khan, TwoCircles.net
Mohd. Sayeed Ahmed Nagori is a poor carpenter who works day and night and barely able to eke out a living, seeing him working in his small shop one can hardly believe that for Ujjain police he is a potential terrorists and putting him in 24 hours surveillance is a national security priority. Sayeed’s workshop is located in Muslim dominated Kot Mohalla of Ujjain. His shop is in front of a soda store which once used to be the district office of SIMI.
In the year 2000 when Dijvijay Singh government did not give permission for All India Convention of SIMI in Bhopal, the activists of SIMI in Ujjain protested and burned effigy of Digvijay Singh in front of their office. Huge crowd gathered to see what was happening, Sayeed was in the crowd. Police charged the crowd and arrested who ever got into their hands; Sayeed was among the arrested and spent a day in jail.
He thought the matter is finished. But next day he got to know that police had booked cases against him for disturbing peace and public ordery, if this was not enough his name was also included in pasting alleged inflammatory posters in Ujjain.
Sayeed said, “I was never been member of SIMI nor attended any of its programs, it was just an unfortunate incident for me that I was watching them burn effigy’s and raising slogans. That day changed my life forever. It has been 11 years and the trial is still going on, I have to go to court twice a month for hearing. If I miss a single hearing then police will immediately rush to my home or shop and start questioning about my whereabouts. Last year my mother passed away, I missed the hearing due to the funeral prayers. Next day police officers came to my shop and asked ‘kaun lurhak gaya tha be?’.”
“Life is not the same anymore I am always under police surveillance, whenever there is a bomb blast anywhere in the country, two police officers will rush to my workshop to see whether I am still here or ran away. Seeing this long trials, and biased police attitude I don’t expect life to be normal again.”
Sayeed was so scared from police, that he stopped us from taking his photo or video, “Sorry, but if Ujjain Police saw my face then again they will come for me and will increase their harassment on my family.”
But this fear was not same for Sarfaraz Qureashi who was eager to talk about the facts about his case. This was his way of keeping of keeping the record straight after being branded as terrorist by the Hindi media in Ujjain.
Sarfaraz Qureshi was 20 year old in 1999; he was resident of Ujjain but was pursuing a computer vocational program in Indore. He was an active member of SIMI before the organization was banned. In the year 1999, Indore police booked case against him for allegedly pasting posters on the eve of the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary, which according to the police could have created enmity between different communities he was booked in sec 153 of I.P.C. He returned back to Ujjain and discontinued his vocational program.
Again in the year 2000 he was arrested by the Ujjain Police for allegedly pasting posters in Ujjain for all India conference of SIMI in Bhopal. He alleged that he was put into three days illegal detention and was mentally tortured during that period. He was later released after few days but now for police he is a hard-line Islamist who should always be under scrutiny.
Sarfaraz said, “I use to go to the court three times a month for my case hearings. Police used to call me anytime they wished and start taking pictures from every angle. Police continuously keep surveillance on my house and on my family; they even tried to book my younger brother in false cases. This doesn’t end here, police even started visiting the school where I was teaching, the administration got panicked and fired me. Now I joined a new school for teaching but the police have not changed their behaviour.”
After 11 long years, in the year 2010 sarfaraz was acquitted in the 1999 Black Day Poster Case, but the All India SIMI Convention Poster Case still haunts him. He says he is a declared terrorist in Ujjain by the local Hindi media. He alleged that police leaked his pictures which they took in their custody to the Hindi media and whenever there is bomb blast anywhere in the country his photo is being shown especially by Sahara Hindi news channel as ‘Atankwadi.’
He is convinced that he lost his father due to this mental harassment by the Hindi media. He said, “A day after the Ahmedabad blast “Lokswami” Hindi newspaper published my picture taken in police custody with my hands in handcuffs on the front page and declared me as master-mind of the Ahmedabad blast and showed me as arrested from Bangalore. My father saw that news item and became ill due to mental tension and fearing my arrest, just a few weeks later he passed away.”
Sarfaraz thinks he have become a soft target for police and the media, “whenever there is a bomb blast anywhere in the country local police and IB start visiting my house. Like the recent bomb blast in Mumbai, blast happened in Mumbai and police keep questioning me here in Ujjain and put me in three days illegal detention.”
Sarfaraz was desperate to inform the facts to the world about his life and his pending trails to counter the fake news of biased mainstream media. Although he was acquitted in the 1999 poster case, and is sure of getting acquitted in the 2000 poster case, but also knows that false propaganda of the mainstream media and police repression is not going to end so easily. He made an appeal to all the Muslims, Muslim leadership and human rights activists of India to support youngsters like him, because he is sure that they alone can’t fight the system turned against them.