By TCN News,
Aligarh: The Aligarh Muslim University Teachers’ Association (AMUTA) has expressed deep concern over the prevailing communal discord in Western Uttar Pradesh, particularly in Muzaffarnagar and its surrounding areas where continued communal violence has claimed more than 50 lives so far.
AMUTA Secretary, Dr. Aftab Alam said that the situation in the area is still out of control. People have been forced to live in the relief camps in a large number and migration continues to take place in search of safety and security.
Dr. Alam said that AMUTA also criticized the administration for its failure to act in a timely manner to prevent the violence. It condemned the attack on students of Darul Uloom Deoband in trains while they were going to Deoband via Muzaffarnagar. It said that the administration allowed tension simmering leading to a large scale communal riot. It felt that strong preventive measures by the administration would have prevented the situation from escalating to this level. The administration also failed to respond swiftly when the news of communal violence broke out and remained a mute spectator.
The AMUTA in a resolution said that the communal violence was a deliberate attempt to create tension in the State ahead of 2014 parliamentary elections in order to polarize voters on communal lines and gain mileage.
AMUTA demanded urgent and strict measures to bring the situation under control and take stern action against the officials who miserably failed to control the violence. It demanded a high level time bound enquiry by a joint team of the National Human Rights Commission and National Commission of Minorities. AMUTA called upon the state government to bring to book all involved in killing and arson and establish a fast track court to try and punish the guilty. It also demanded deployment of paramilitary forces in the minority concentrated areas of the affected region to ensure security and safe return of those who had to flee from their villages. It urged the administration to moot an effective rehabilitation plan for those living in the relief camps.
AMUTA urged all political parties not to play politics over the dead bodies in this time of crisis and avoid making statements which may further flare up the situation.