Harassing ‘innocents’?

‘Begunah Musalmanon ki Giraftarian ab Bardasht Naheen’ (arrests of innocent Muslims intolerable now), Abu Bashar Be-gunaah hai (Abu Bashar is innocent), ‘Mufti Abu Bashar ko Fauran Riha Kia Jaae (Abu Bashar should be released immediately), ‘Paabandi sirf SIMI Par Kyun?’ (Why ban on only SIMI). These are some of the agitated headlines in Urdu newspapers reporting statements by Shahi Imam Ahmad Bukhari (who visited bomb blast accused Abu Bashar’s village in UP’s Azamgarh district with a group of Delhi Muslims), MPs Obaidullah Azmi and Abu Aasim Azmi and even Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, following the recent arrests of young and educated Muslims accused of involvement in bomb blasts.

‘Hindutva ki Laboratory mein Ban Rahein hein Bam’ (bombs are being made in Hindutva lab), says a headline in Delhi-based Sahafat (August 25). An editorial in Rashtriya Sahara says: “The media and our extremely alert intelligence agencies who raise a hue and cry following bomb blasts in any part of the country kept absolutely mum following the (Kanpur) episode and most newspapers did not even report it.” (Similar incidents at Nanded in Maharashtra - 2006 and in Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu have been cited by some papers). Delhi-based Hamara Samaj (Aug. 22) charges: “The police department has firmly assumed that being educated and acquainted with modern technology is proof of their (Muslims’) being dangerous.” Jadeed Khabar (Aug 23), from Delhi, apprehends a deeper motive behind these cases of “harassment” of young Muslims: “One wonders if the new wave of educational consciousness among the Muslims on a country-wide scale is being suppressed by hatching a conspiracy in the name of an anti-terror campaign”.

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