By IANS,
New Delhi : Hundreds of Muslims participated in a day-long sit-down at Parliament Street here to protest “the fabricated implication” of the community members in terror cases — the latest being journalist Syed Mohammed Kazmi, accused of involvement in last month’s Israeli embassy car blast.
Besides other Muslim religious leaders and academics, Kazmi’s son, Turab, a class 12 student, addressed the gathering.
“Why is an innocent person being implicated in this conspiracy. Who is behind all this,” he asked.
“They (police) transferred my father to judicial custody without informing us. They have not been able to prove any charges. We wanted to meet the Congress’ leadership but they have denied us the chance so far. Do they think we all are terrorists,” Turab added.
Shia cleric, Maulana Syed Kalbe Rushaid Rizvi asked the protestors to unite, putting aside the religious biases, and “show the country’s leaders that if the public can put them in parliament, it can also throw them out”.
He urged the people to have faith in the judiciary and Indian law instead of police and politicians as “it was useless to appeal to the policymakers who don’t work for the welfare of their own country”.
Jawaharlal Nehru University Student Union president Abhishek Kumar expressed the students’ solidarity towards the protest and claimed that instead of going after innocent civilians, real extremists should be caught.
“Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) should be banned as it is the biggest extremist organisation in the country,” he alleged.
Rajya Sabha member Muhammad Adeeb urged the protestors to ask for removal of Israeli embassy from the country and asked the community to stop being complacent to such incidences.
“This is just the beginning. Earlier they caught Muslim youth who had dubious reputations, then they started catching ordinary Muslim youngsters and now they have started picking up even reputed people like Kazmi. If we do not act, I am sure that no one will be spared from such atrocities.”
The crowds carried placards with Kazmi’s photograph and raised anti-America and anti-Israel slogans, calling Iran a friend of India.
(Photos by Abu Zafar, for TwoCircles.net)