A reflection on September 13 Delhi blasts and its aftermaths
By Mahtab Alam,
It is complete six months today since the Batla House encounter in Delhi’s Jamia Nagar. The globally much-publicized encounter now is part of the history – mainly for two reasons. While the police officer leading the shootout was posthumously honored with Ashok Chakra, the incident stirred the entire nation – particularly 150 million-strong Muslim community – minus government. This piece by Mahtab Alam is a reflection on nationwide aftermaths of the September 13, 2008 Delhi serial blasts.
The US-led ongoing global war against ‘terror’, in response to the events of September 11, 2001, has taken manifold in last eight years. One of the countries which almost fully endorsed the US ways of responding to terror is none but ours i.e. India. To counter the ‘terror’ various steps have been taken by our security agencies, parliament, police and governments. A close study of various cases shows the errors and terror of these counter terrorism strategies. Here, I will be dealing with the Delhi bomb blasts and its aftermath – illegal arrests, harassment, intimidation and interrogation. Supposedly aimed at ‘countering terror’ these all are continuing till date. And most importantly, the immediate aftermath of the Delhi blasts – Batla House encounter.
September 13, 2008
In the evening of 13th September 2008, once again Delhi was rocked by serial bomb blasts, killing 26 persons and injuring many more. In all, five bomb blasts within the time span of 30 minutes created havoc amongst the Delhiites. Two of them in the heart of Delhi in Connaught Place and two at Greater Kailash M-block market of south Delhi and one – the most destructive one – exploded in crowded Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh area. Three unexploded bombs were found near India Gate, Regal Cinema and Central Park. The responsibility for the blasts has been claimed by an outfit known as Indian Mujahideen (IM) through an email to some media organizations.
Communal witch-hunt begins
Once again, almost just after the blasts the Muslim localities across the nation came under the suspicion and the popular notion of “all Muslims are not ‘terrorist’ but every terrorist is Muslims…” started becoming louder and louder. Hence, on the next day 14th September 08, a prominent social activist and former assistant Professor of Environmental Sciences at Rajasthan University, A R Agwan and Adnan Fahad, a businessman, both residents of Jamia Nagar, were taken by the Special Cell of Delhi Police for ‘questioning’. On 18 September, a research student of Jamia Millia Islamia was picked up by special cell for the same and of course all were ‘arrested’ in the infamous and ‘special’ way of our ‘special cell’ officials.
The witch hunt of Muslims that followed the Delhi blasts was, however, far wide going beyond these two pickings. The entire area of Jamia Nagar, Zakir Nagar, Batla House, Shaheen Bagh, etc. which are mainly occupied by students and young professionals, got scared as people were being picked up indiscriminately everyday and were subject to all sorts of brutalities like torture and harassment, etc. The atmosphere in these areas was one of complete terror unleashed by the state. A feeling of ‘who is next’ plagues the minds of the people.
The ‘Encounter’
On 19th September 2008, an armed operation was conducted by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police, at fourth floor of House No. L-18 in Batla House area of Jamia Nagar. During the operation two ‘terrorists’, Atif Amin and Mohd. Sajid, were shot dead by the police. Mohan Chand Sharma, an inspector of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell and his colleague Constable Balwant got injured. And later Mohan Chand Sharma succumbed to his injuries in the Holy Family hospital. Md. Saif, a flat mate of Atif and Sajid, was arrested from the site. The Delhi Police claimed that two alleged terrorists escaped during the operation.
The Delhi Police claimed that the residents of L-18, all students of various universities and institutes in Delhi, and all hailing from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, were part of IM. Moreover, the Delhi Police alleged that the deceased and arrested youth were the main conspirators and executors of the Delhi serial bomb blasts.
The infamous ‘encounter’ by the Delhi Police under mysterious circumstances was questioned by many concerned citizens, activists, members of civil and human rights groups. A number of human rights organisations and independent civil rights groups including the PUDR, PUCL, APCR, CRPP and FDI carried out their fact finding in the area. These groups have exposed several contradictions in Police theories. The questions raised by various groups are still unanswered.
‘Nursery’ of terror discovered
The day of ‘encounter’ at Batla House ‘helped’ both our ‘mainstream’ media and security agencies to discover the ‘nursery’ of terror – Azamgarh. Almost immediately after the ‘encounter’, police and intelligence bureau officials started claiming that “Azamgarh is slowly but surely becoming a hotbed for terror”. This has been later ‘approved’ by their ‘investigative’ and ‘exclusive’ stories of ‘mainstream’ media houses. Azamgarh is a small town of Uttar Pradesh spreading over 4234 sq km. The people of Azamgarh, both Muslims and Hindus, are still facing its impact in their day today life. Just after the ‘encounter’, when I visited Azamgarh as a member of a joint fact-finding team. We observed a complete sense of insecurity and gloom. The youth were scared and parents afraid to even send their children out of their homes, be it for studies or jobs. Moreover, residents of Azamgarh have been forced to vacate their rooms by landlords in Delhi and other places. Many youths were missing. There is no knowledge of their whereabouts. The locals were completely shocked and have reacted very sadly to these allegations. The families of the accused do not even want to sign Vakalatnamas assigning lawyers to fight their case.
Unfortunately, situation is not different yet. The feeling of ‘who is next’ still plagues the minds of the people and why not, when it has been blindly perceived that hailing from Azamgarh means being ‘terrorist’. The recent victim of Azamgarh-phobia is Muhammad Ashhad, a resident of Azamgarh living in Noida who was taken for ‘questioning’ by Noida Police on 6th March and released on 7th March. The case of Talha Amir, player of Azamgarh Hockey team, and many others are known to us.
Two Azamgarhs in South India also
Even in South India, considered to be less anti-Muslim, the situation is not altogether different. Many Muslim youths have been interrogated by the police after the recent blasts. The situation in Karnataka and Kerala is really pathetic. In my recent visit to Bangalore, I came to know about the various cases of communal witch-hunt. As we know that for quite some time many Muslim students and youth of South India have been targeted by the police and kept under surveillance. Around 100 people have been picked up from different parts of Kerala. Their homes are raided. In many cases, the location to which they were taken is also not revealed. They are accused of different forms of terrorist activities. It has also been claimed in the media that most of them were involved in various bomb blasts in different parts of India. Both Karnataka and Kerala have succeeded to discover their own Azamagarh (Nursery of terror) i.e. Bhatkal in Karnataka and Kunnur in Kerala.
Will this never end?
The situation is still not different. Muslim youths are still scared of going out. In my recent visits to different parts of India namely Azamgarh, Lucknow, Patna, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, etc. I found almost same level of sense of insecurity amongst Muslim youth and students both male and female. The feeling of ‘who is next’ plagues the minds of all of them in various forms. People have started considering this (sense of insecurity) as part and parcel of their lives. I still have no answer of the question – Will this never end? – asked by a teacher of mine when I informed her about Mohammed Ashhad’s detention. I can only wish my answer in affirmative!
(Mahtab Alam is a Delhi-based civil rights activist and can be reached at [email protected])