NEW DELHI: At least 3,000 Muslims rallied in New Delhi yesterday to protest the killing, imprisonment and persecution of Muslims, saying innocent members of the community became targets after bomb attacks in India in recent years.
Many demonstrators holding banners like “Give us security, not tears and blood” arrived by train from Azamgarh district in the neighboring Uttar Pradesh state, where the protesters said many Muslim youths have been arrested on scant evidence. Local politicians and students joined mainly Muslim men at the rally in demanding a judicial probe into the police shooting last year of two Muslims who were from the district.
Muslims gathered at the Jantar Mantar here yesterday, and demanded an end to the police harassment of youths from the community and a judicial inquiry into the Batla House shootout last year, in which two alleged terrorists were killed.
The protesters gathered at Parliament Street here and raised slogans against the politicians and the police. “We want an impartial time-bound judicial inquiry into the Batla House encounter by a sitting Supreme Court Judge. We also want an end to the police atrocities on youth of Azamgarh on the pretext of tackling terror,” said Maulana Amir Rashadi Madni, convener of Ulema Council that organized the Ulema Express from Azamgarh to Delhi.
“All those found guilty in the judicial inquiry should be put on trial. Though Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma died (in the Batla House shootout) but the Ashok Chakra given to him should be taken back. The protest has just started, it will slowly and slowly spread across country,” Madni told IANS.
Madni also made clear the council’s political plans. “We will fight elections on two seats — Azamgarh and Lalganj — in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. We are in discussion with several big and small political parties,” he said.
The protesters, ranging from students to the elderly, arrived at the Old Delhi Railway Station around 1.30 a.m. yesterday in the special train that set off from Azamgarh around 12.30 p.m. Wednesday. The train reached nearly three hours before the scheduled time of arrival, as it was not allowed to halt at any station between Kanpur and Delhi for security reasons.
Besides Madni, numerous leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Delhi also addressed the protesters. “We want the government to take action on our demands before the parliamentary elections. We will support only that political party which will work for us,” said S.Q.R. Ilyas, the joint convener of Coordination Committee for Indian Muslims (CCIM).
CCIM, a joint group of several Muslim organizations, has supported the protest in the capital. “Political empowerment of Muslims is necessary as those elected by the community to work for their welfare and cause generally don’t work once elected,” Ilyas added.
Some at the rally said the government has not defended them for fear of offending the country’s majority Hindu population.
— With input from agencies
