Demonizing Muslims in India

To

Chairman, Human Rights Commission.
Chairman, National Commission for Minorities.
chairperson, UPA.

Dear Sir,

With regard to the two alleged bomb blasts that took place
in `Lumbini-Park' and `Gokul Chat' at Hyderabad, we would like to
express our deepest grief and regret at this turn of events and join
with the government in trying to identify the perpetrators and bring
them to book.

In this effort however we see a very regrettable trend where within
minutes of any such incident, government spokespeople name some
Muslim organization or the other and the press immediately reports
this. At this point, there is no evidence whatsoever to link these
named organizations to the incident. However this does not deter
either the government spokesperson or the press from reporting this
by using the word, `suspected' as a qualifier. When such suspicions
are not realized there is no clarification in the press to say that
the original report was wrong. This paints the Muslim community in a
bad light and casts aspersions on people who have already suffered
with their members dying in the blasts.

Another thing which happens is that exclusively after such incidents
it is Muslim youth who are arrested on suspicion by the police,
usually from the old city. These youth are held for an indefinite
period, tortured and then released usually after taking some bribe
from them. There is no follow up on these arrests to say why these
boys were arrested, nor any attempt to clear their names after they
have been released as they were not guilty in the first place, nor
any talk of paying compensation for their wrongful detention and ill
treatment at the hands of the police.

In the case of the blasts on Saturday also the same drama has been
played out. A Muslim organization was named as being behind the
blasts, all the Muslim countries in the neighborhood were also named
for good measure as possible supporters of the terrorist action and
some Muslim boys were arrested from the old city. We fear that these
boys are being held in inhuman conditions and are being tortured to
extract false `confessions' from them. It is interesting to note
that both on the day of the Makkah Masjid blasts as well as last
Friday a Hindu man was arrested from the Masjid premises. But we
have no report of what happened to him or who he was. The same is
true of the blasts in Malegaon, Nanded and other places in premises
known to belong to the RSS. No arrests were made and no mention of
the name of the owners of the premises and no questions about why
explosives were being manufactured or stored in these places.

Initially reports emanating from the police force were to the effect
that the explosives used in the Macca Masjid blast as well as the
two blasts at Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat, were the same. Later it
transpired, and was reported, that the two were different, and that
while RDX was used in Macca Masjid, Neo-Gel explosive comprised of
slurry, ball-bearings etc. was used in the other blasts. This sort
of irresponsible reportage resulting in the immediate linkage of a
community with such horrific events is uncalled for and seriously
defamatory of the entire Muslim community and a gross violation of
their human rights.

The newspapers report that the Intelligence Bureau had tipped off
the Andhra Pradesh Police more than two MONTHS ago that the
explosives smuggled into the country for terrorist activity were
only partially used in the Macca masjid blast, and that the rest
were floating around, two terrorists reported to have entered the
country later to target Ganesh festival and Ramzaan festival. It is
unusual; to say the least, that checking and frisking operations
ought to have been mounted seriously, which were not. The result
was that at crowded places, criminals could place such explosives
and cause a human tragedy of such proportions, undetected.

The human rights of citizens deserve better measures than these, and
in our submission, there appears to be a clear violation of human
rights in this matter which we request you to investigate urgently,
since the inaction of the police before the blasts, and the biased
and slanted response afterwards, the immediate linkage with Muslims,
are each and all matters of very serious concern. Intelligence
received ought to have been better processed and handled, which it
was not. Preventive measures ought to have been taken, which were
not. Half an hour after the blast it was stated who the culprits
were. The statements of firm conviction coming from the police
force are not backed by the political statements of those in charge
of the police force. The members of one community are immediately
stated to be behind the criminal acts : it is as if there was an
orchestrated campaign to malign the Muslims, create a fear psychosis
about them, and under the cloak of that terrorize the Muslims by
police high-handedness.

The Hon'ble Commission is earnestly requested to investigate the
matter thoroughly, on the issues of intelligence processing and
usage, preventive actions, routine harassment of Muslims in such
matters, defamation of the entire community, and monitoring by human
rights and minority commission officials of what goes on in the name
of countering terrorism, and to direct the police agencies who pick
up (or "call") citizens for investigation to do so informing the
Hon'ble Commission immediately of such detention (or "call") so that
a monitoring of the rights of citizens can be effectively
implemented.

Yours' faithfully,
Ahmad sohail siddiqui
91-9811235731

What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but
what is woven into the lives of others.

Note : This e-mail, including any attachments, may contain
privileged, confidential, and/or proprietary information, and is
intended only to be seen and used by the named addressee(s) . If you
are not the intended recipient of this e-mail, you are notified that
any discussion, distribution or copying of this e-mail, and any
attachments, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-
mail in error, please notify the sender immediately, and permanently
delete the original and any copies of the e-mail, any attachments,
and any printout without reading, distributing or copying them.

Thank you.

National Commission for Minorities,
5th Floor, Lok Nayak Bhavan, Khan Market,
New Delhi 110 003 Tel. 24618349
Fax 24693302, 24642645, 24698410
E-mail:ncm-mma@nic. in

National Human Rights Commission,
Faridkot House, Copernicus Marg, New Delhi, PIN 110001 Tel.No.
23384012 Fax No. 23384863 E-Mail: covdnhrc@nic. in, [email protected]

SHRIMATI SONIA GANDHI
CHAIRPERSON UPA
10, JANPATH NEW DELHI-110001.
http://www.soniagandhi.org/php/showGuestBook.php?linkid=10