By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: In raids carried out in the wee hours on Friday and Saturday in some localities in Hyderabad, a special task force team of Andhra Pradesh Police picked up 50 Muslim students from different African nations for, as the police said, ‘overstaying in the country as their visas had expired.’ And 30 of them were sent to Chanchalguda jail on Sunday.
But Amjadullah Khan, president of Majlis Bachao Tehreek who met some African students and visited the jail to get first-hand information from those arrested, has refuted the police charge.
Giving details to TwoCircles.net from Hyderabad Amjadullah Khan said the police team raided Humayun Nagar, Mehdipatnam and Jubli Hill areas around 2 am on Friday and Saturday, picked up 50 Muslim students from countries like Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia. They were not allowed even to change clothes as they were in night dress. About 20 of them were let free allegedly on receiving amount and 30 were presented before the magistrate and sent to Chanchalguda jail on judicial remand.
The police officials told Khan that these students were staying there illegally. The police had raided the areas on a tip-off that some African nationals in the localities have arms and drugs. “But the police did not find any such thing except books and clothes and when I met those arrested in the jail they said they are on valid visas, they are not staying illegally,” Khan told TCN.
Around 2,000 students from African countries are living in Andhra Pradesh, many of them in Hyderabad. They are students and are enrolled in some colleges in the city.
“While the police officials say that they were staying illegally but locals say that they were all living here legally and on valid visas,” said Md. Subhan, Hyderabad correspondent of Urdu daily Siasat. He pointed out that earlier police were harassing Bangladeshis and now they are picking African nationals.
What is more shocking is that the police have allegedly told owners of houses and flats in the areas not to give their homes on rent to African nationals. Amjadullah Khan visited the areas and met locals who informed him that they were called to police stations and were instructed not to rent their houses to these people. Khan further said that some house owners have asked African nationals to vacate their homes.
Some Somalian students have informed about the incident to Somalian Embassy and UN offices in New Delhi. Their representatives are reaching Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Amjadullah Khan is seeking support of NGOs, Muslim organizations and human rights lawyers to seek the early release of Muslim African students. He has assured the detained Africans of legal aid.