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The recent spate of arrests of Muslims
in Andhra Pradesh on the charge of having links with the ISI and alleged
involvement in the killing of former Gujarat Minister Haren Pandya has
become a new subject of bitterness between the TDP Government and the Muslim
minority.
The All Party Joint Action Committee,
a Forum of several Muslim parties and organisation, has condemned the arrests
of Muslim youth in Hyderabad on the charges of having links with ISI and
said that it was a conspiracy to defame the community.
A meeting of the Muslim leaders also rejected the charge that five persons arrested by the CBI from Hyderabad last week were responsible for the killing of former Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya and said that they were framed to shield the real culprits in the murder case. In a statement issued at the conclusion of one and a half hour long meeting, the Joint Action committee took the note of the statement of Haren Pandya's father that the arrests of five persons in Hyderabad was a fabrication to protect the real culprits.
The action committee urged the Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to put an end to the harassment of the community by various Central and State police and intelligence agencies.
The meeting was convened by a Muslim political party the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and attended by the representatives of 18 different social and religious organisations.
Mr Abdul Raheem Qureshi, the secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the president of Tameer-e-Millat, briefing the newsmen said that by booking the five persons under POTA in the Haren Pandya murder case, an attempt has been made to deprive them of justice. "We are afraid that justice will not be done to them in Gujarat. We demand that they should be prosecuted in some other State", he said.
The meeting demanded the immediate release of the two youth from Hyderabad booked on the charges of going to Pakistan and undergoing armed training. "These are baseless allegations. The police has violated the law several times in the cases of these boys and subjected them to third degree torture to extract a confession", he said, demanding the release of the Zubair Shareef and Mubasshir Hussain. The delegation of Muslim leaders will meet the Chief Minister Naidu to place its demands before him. Mr Qureshi said that the next course of action would depend on the response of the Chief Minister. Pointing out that Zubair Shareef, Mubasshir Hussain and his brother were arrested by the police on the morning of April 18 from their houses, he said that the police showed the arrest of Zubair on April 21 and arrest of Mubasshir on April 22. Aijaz Hussain was released under public pressure but he is being harassed to bring the passport of his elder brother.
"Aijaz Hussain's case shows that innocent youth are being targeted and harassed by the police", he said.
He said that it was alarming that
the police and the intelligence agencies were targeting the youth, who
had gone abroad in search of job opportunities, with the allegations that
they were going to Pakistan for armed training.
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