By TCN News,
New Delhi: A number of rights activists, advocates and academicians have come out in support of Aijaz Ahmed Mirza, who was working as a fellow with the DRDO before he was arrested in August, 2012 on charges of terrorist conspiracy.
In a joint statement they have welcome the “Justice Katju’s bold initiative seeking to reinstate Aijaz Ahmed Mirza’s fellowship contract at DRDO.”
He has now been released on bail as NIA excluded his name from the charge-sheet. They joint statement has also questioned the DRDO’s hasty termination. “We fail to understand why the DRDO was in such haste to terminate his hard won fellowship even before the charges were framed. Termination of the fellowship must have only compounded Mirza’s distress and mental trauma,” they write, contrasting it with Lt. Col. Prasad Srikant Purohit.
“Compared to the swiftness with which the DRDO acted against Mirza, we learn from media reports that Lt. Col. Prasad Srikant Purohit, arrested and charged in connection with terrorist actions in the Malegaon bomb blast and other cases has been receiving full salary and benefits.”
This came to light recently in response to an RTI query. The reply from the Defence Ministry pointed out, “It is confirmed that Lt. Col. Purohit, IC 55224 is in receipt of full rates of P&A till date. It is further stated that official communication regarding the judiciary matters is required to be received in this office from AHQRS. For further action relating to P&A. In this present case no such intimation has been received till date.”
“It is unbelievable that an officer who is in prison for the last four years, on charges of terrorism; against whom a court of inquiry had recommended dismissal from the Army at the earliest by withdrawal of the ‘President’s pleasure’; against whom a fresh Court of Inquiry was ordered in 2011, continues to receive full salary,” they observed.
Questioning the different parameters by the Defence Ministry, they ask, “Are we not to draw the conclusion that the Ministry of Defence acted in a malicious and discriminatory manner by dismissing Ahmed Mirza for merely being interrogated on suspicion of terrorism while wilfuly neglecting to take any punitive action in the case of Col. Purohit, against whom several charges of terrorism have been already initiated?”
They have hence seconded Justice Katju’s demand that the Ministry of Defence reinstate Mirza with retrospective effect and offer compensation to him for the unjust harassment he has undergone both from the NIA as well as the DRDO.
The joint-statement was signed by following persons:
Satya Sivaraman (writer and filmmaker)
Shabnam Hashmi (ANHAD),
Mahtab Alam (PUCL)
Manisha Sethi, Ahmed Sohaib, Sanghamitra Misra (JTSA)
Mansi Sharma (activist, Delhi)
Ajit Sahi, senior journalist, Delhi
Teesta Setalvad (CPJ)
Jyoti Punwani, journalist, Mumbai
Lesley E. Esteves, journalist, Delhi
Jerry Pinto, writer, Mumbai
Dr. Neshat Quaiser, JMI
Dunu Roy (Hazard Centre)
Prof. Harbans Mukhia (Retd.), JNU
Xavier Dias, activist, Ranchi
Walliullah Laskar, Activist, Guwahati
Saba Naqvi, senior journalist, Delhi
Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Activist and writer, Delhi
Anuradha Bhasin, senior journalist, Jammu