By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Banaras: At a time when embattled human rights activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand are facing ferocious government crackdown, several Mufti, Ulama and intellectuals from Banaras have come out in her support.
As many as 12 such community and religious leaders have extended support to Setalvad terming her harassment at the hands of government as undemocratic and said, all Indians having faith in democracy are with her and Anand during their hardship.
Modi government is relentlessly harassing and intimidating Setalvad, Anand and their colleagues alleging violations of the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) by their Non Governmental Organizations, these leaders claimed.
Setalvad and Anand represent three organisations —Citizens for Justice and Peace (CJP), Sabrang Communications and Sabrang Trust— and all these have been in the forefront of the fight against communal forces.
CJP’s assistance to survivors of the communal carnage in Gujarat in 2002 has been principally responsible for the conviction of around 120 persons who participated in the violent attacks on Muslims. The Bilkees Lateef case, the Best Bakery case and the notorious Naroda Patiya case stand out as instances of the effectiveness of civil society intervention.
CJP helped the survivors, protected witnesses, and paid lawyers to represent them, the main reason seen behind some semblance of justice that is delivered in Gujarat riot cases.
Last year, CJP and Sabrang have faced numerous inquiries from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) into their accounts ending with a first information report (FIR) filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on July 8, 2015. Recently there was a raid on Setalvad’s residence and offices on July 14.
The present support shown by Muslim scholars’ group from Varanasi is an extension of pouring in of support by many other human and civil rights activists that have been continuously condemning Setalvad’s hounding by Modi government and are demonstrating against her harassment.
This group has alleged that the central government is trying to strangulate the voices against it in an undemocratic manner and that the persecution of Setalvad is apparently due to her fight in bringing justice to 2002 Gujarat pogrom victims.
Issuing a statement on behalf of Muslim masses living in Varanasi, the group said that considering the hardship Setalvad is going through, “there is no doubt that many more, who are against the government, will meet the same fate.”
Following Mufti, Ulama and intellectuals issued the support for Setalvad and Anand:
1. Maulana Abdul Batin Noumani, Mufti-e-Shahar, Banaras
2. Maulana Harun Rashid Nakshbandi
3. Maulana Abdul Nasir, President Jamiat Ulama Unit of Banaras
4. Maulana Abdullah Saud, Jamia Salfiya, Reval Talab
5. Haji Manzoor Ahmad Sahib, Madrassa Matlaul Uloom
6. Mufti Niyaz Ahmad
7. Syed Muhammad Yasin, Joint Secretatry of Anjuman-e-Islamiya Masjid
8. Haji Shukrullah Khan, President of Muslim Academy
9. Dr. Abdul Wahid, Assistant Secretary of Muslim Academy
10. Haji Ishteyaq Ahmad, Secretary of Sir Syed Society
11. Advocate Muhammad Yasin
12. Haji Sharif Ahmad of Biradran Tanzeem