By Aas Mohammad Kaif, TwoCircles.net
Uttar Pradesh: A fifty-six-year-old Muslim lawyer from Saharanpur Uttar Pradesh has vowed to fight for the release of 57 foreign nationals, belonging to Tabligli Jammat, from various jails in UP.
Talking to TwoCircles.net advocate Janisar Ahmad said that the worst thing to happen in the media trial of the Nizamuddin controversy was the selective conspiracy against foreign members of Tablighi Jamaat and sending them to jail.
Recently, the governments of these detained Tablighi Jamaat members from Kyrgyzstan, Sudan, Thailand and Indonesia authorized them to present themselves in courts.
Janisar said the arrest should not have happened. “To understand this matter, let’s take the example of Kushinagar during the same period around April 20, 3 foreign nationals were facilitated to their respective homes,” he said, adding, “In contrast, 916 foreign nationals around the country, who were Tablighi Jamaat congregation attendees have been selectively hounded and portrayed as villains.”
Out of these detained foreign Tablighi Jamaat members, 300 were arrested only in UP and 57 of them are lodged in four police stations in Saharanpur.
Janisar said the case pains him and he doesn’t want to take any fee for fighting for their release. “I am fighting a big case without any fees for the first time. They are our guests. Not just as Muslims, but as human beings, things have gone very bad against them. The government should not have been so ruthless,” he said.
Janisar said that he has been very concerned with these cases.
Recently, the ambassador of Kyrgyzstan to India arrived at Janisar’s home and both of them met the jailed nationals.
Out of the 57 foreign nationals jailed in UP, 21 of them are from Kyrgyzstan.
The country has shown concern for its detained citizens in India. The Kyrgyzstan ambassador has constantly met with the detained Tablighi Jamaat members inside the jail
The government of Kyrgyzstan has decided it will do everything possible for the release of its citizens. According to the Z Aigerim, ambassador of the country, “Every country should be concerned about its citizens. We are also worried. Our citizens have not done anything wrong. We are making legal arrangements. We are also talking to the Government of India and hopefully, our people will be released.”
Like Kyrgyzstan, the governments of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and their embassy officials are also regularly following up on the cases of these foreign nationals in Indian jails.
Pertinent to mention, 179 foreign nationals among the Jamaati members are in jails in the Meerut zone of UP for more than 45 days.
A close friend of the local MP who came to meet the prisoners in Saharanpur jail said that all prisoners are happy and they aren’t facing any issues. “Jailers and the prison staff are behaving respectfully with the foreign nationals. Even though not all of them can speak English, expect 3, it is comforting that they are being treated well,” he said.
No police official in UP was ready to comment on the issue, stating that the matter is being dealt at court. However, without being named, some officials confirmed that the decision to jail these foreign nationals who attended the Jamaat in Nizamuddin came from top-level bureaucracy.
Waheed Siddiqui, an expert political analyst from Lucknow said that this kind of a decision can only come from the Chief Minister but arrests have been made in the entire country which means this is being closely coordinated and monitored by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Ever since the media trial of the Nizamuddin Markaz story started, 17 foreign nationals from the Jamaat have been sent to UP’s Bahraich. The same continued with Jamaat members, who after being quarantined were sent to various jails in UP’s Prayagraj, Kushinagar, Meerut, Saharanpur, Hapur, Shamli, Bulandshahar and Baghpat.
Local dailies reporting these events during that time used derogatory language and incited fear among the people. Other nationalities include Kenya, Sudan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan. This crackdown came into effect on a massive scale starting March 30.
After April 20, they were finally being sent to jails.
20 were arrested from Meerut, 16 from Bijnor, 9 from Hapur, 22 from Shamli, 16 from Bulandshahr, 28 from Baghpat and 57 from Saharanpur under charges of Epidemic Act, Foreigner’s Act, and charges like preaching on a tourist visa, and more. Their passports were confiscated.
On April 21, UP’s Health Minister Siddharth Nath Singh had demanded that a case of “attempt to murder” should be registered against all these foreign nationals.
Attempt to murder cases was not filed but they have been kept in jails for more than 45 days now.
Advocate Janisar said that he has seen countless cases of murder cases in his life whose trials are completed in less than a month but there is unnecessary and purposeful delay only in political matters.
“In these matters, only what the government wants is done,” he said.
Janisar recalls the case of Chandrasekhar of Bhim Army who was arrested and kept in the same Saharanpur jail. As soon as he got bail, a new case was immediately registered against him.
The same happened in Bulandshahar where Majeed Ghazi is looking into the cases of these foreign Tablighi Jamaat nationals.
Ghazi said that local Muslims are disturbed due to these incidents. “But the Jamaat members inside jails are patient and smiling,” he said.
He said that the court proceedings are administered through video conferencing.
Haji Mahboob, who has been associated with the Tablighi Jamaat for the last 20 years told TwoCircles.net that the current situation concerning foreign Tablighi Jamaat members can be called an atrocity. “At least foreigners should not have been sent to jail,” he said, adding, “They could have been quarantined without any charges brought against them.”
“Apart from this, 22,000 Tablighi Jamaat members from India have been sent to jail or quarantined all over the country. At present, there are one and a half million Corona patients but there is no history of spreading infection that can be traced to Jamaat members,” Mehboob said, adding, “Are we still not understanding the lapses during the ‘Namaste Trump’ program or will raising voice against its failure result in consuming one’s whole community? Allah is watching us…all we can do is be patient.”
How concerned the governments are for their citizens is also being revealed through this case.
At Saharanpur jail, inmates from other nationalities include from Spain, Israel and France.
According to Advocate Janisar, the officials from these countries keep talking to their citizens inside jails. He informed them that they have also advertised for legal help for these citizens. As of now, he has obtained a ‘No Objection Certificate’ for them. “Now these people will not stay in jail for long.”
However, Janisar is sure that there will be talks of a trial even after this as the most serious charges have been brought against them for spreading communal propaganda on a tourist visa.
Ataurrahman Khan, an expert on religious affairs from Meerut told TwoCircles.net that it is not the right to call it propaganda because Jamaat members do not go to people of any other religions to motivate them into changing their religion. “Rather, they make basic appeals to Muslims as per their religion, like offering prayers and giving zakat. This is different from Christian missionary work,” he said.
At present, embassies of all countries are active to free these foreign nationals. They are coordinating efforts to present both sides of their home courts as well as the Indian government’s stand. But the possibility of their release can only be determined by the decision of Nuh Court of Haryana.
A similar case was made against 107 foreign nationals lodged in Haryana.
Advocate Asima Mandal was fighting the case for them where Nuh Court fined them a thousand rupees in the Pandemic Act and granted them bail. Later the court had also ordered the Haryana government to send all of them to their homes.
Local student Aftab Ahmed Mewati assisting them had immediately paid a fine for many of them.
Advocate Janisar said that ultimately the matter comes at the disposition of the government and he can only intervene to a limit. “We are fully engaged. Soon the people of Tablighi Jamaat are going to get good news,” he said.
The Jail Superintendent of Bijnor told TwoCircles.net that foreign Jamaat members lodged in jails are very cooperative. “We have 16 people from Indonesia. They are kept in temporary jails across the state.”
He said that officers from their respective embassies came to visit them and they were satisfied with the condition. “We have improved the condition of jails medically. We are doing sanitation every day. Masks and PPE kits are made. We have no complaints from the foreign nationals regarding safety and hygiene,” he said.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has also shown interest in the recent past in getting the Jamaatis released. However, this has not been their main priority.
Jamiat spokesman Maulana Azimullah said that their first priority is the people of the country. “We have earlier been involved in taking the stranded children of the madrassas to their homes. Apart from this, 22,000 Tablighis have been sent to their homes. Now we will focus on helping these foreign nationals. We have started working on this. 300 from Wazirabad have already been sent to a better place.”