By TwoCircles.net staff reporter,
Lucknow: Most complaints of discrimination against the Muslim community are received from Uttar Pradesh, said National Commission for Minorities Chairman Mohammad Shafi Qureshi while talking to newsmen at the VIP guest house here on 12th June.
He said several cases were brought in his knowledge in which police nabbed innocents and killed them in fake encounters. At present, Muslims are in the grip of fear and hopelessness, he said. The state police have been accused of killing several Muslim youths in faker encounters calling them terrorists, he said. “We are investigating such cases,” he said. “I do not want to interfere in police duties but I will like to remind them that they should work within legal limits,” he asserted.
Qureshi said the minority commission is consulting people from different states to work out a strategy to effective implement the Sachar Committee recommendations so that its benefits reach those deserved.
Member of the commission and eminent journalist Dileep Padgaonkar said the purpose of the commission is to inculcate self-confidence in minorities and link them with the mainstream. He clarified that there is no mutual bitterness with the state government regarding minorities’ affairs but it has been advised to expedite its efforts for solving their problems. He further said that the issue of discrimination against Muslims in Uttar Pradesh and their harassment need to be addressed immediately so that they would not feel alienated from the society. He also demanded empowerment of national and state minority commissions so that they could work in a better way.