NEW DELHI: The anti-terrorism “encounter” in Batla House, Jamia Nagar — a Muslim-dominated area in the capital city, which caused deaths of two young Muslims and a policeman followed by a number of arrests of only Muslims has evoked a strong reaction from the Muslim community.
Jamia Millia Islamia University Vice Chancellor Mushir-ul Hasan has taken the tough decision of providing legal aid to two arrested Muslims, who are students of Jamia Millia. The two arrested for alleged role in Delhi serial blasts are: Mohammad Shakeel and Zia-Ur Rahman. Extremist Hindu groups have questioned Hasan’s move, demanded his resignation and have also displayed their anger by burning his effigy on Thursday.
Dismissing speculations of his taking the decision under any “pressure” or “compulsion,” Hasan told Arab News: “It was an instinctive, spontaneous response to a crisis-ridden situation.” Elaborating on it being his legal as well as natural obligation to take such a stand, Hasan said: “One is basically trying to uphold the rule of law, in keeping with the international principles applicable in the United States, United Kingdom and India, that unless proven guilty the accused is innocent.”
Besides, he pointed out: “Students are our wards. We are their custodians not only while they are students but even afterward. It is based on this confidence and understanding that parents decide to send their students here.”
Hasan declined to comment on Batla House encounter, saying that it was not within his domain. When questioned on the apparent bias sensed by Muslims in media’s approach toward the issue, he replied: “Some sections of electronic media are trying to hound us, castigate us by presenting only a negative image about Muslims (as terrorists).”
Hasan views the government’s approach as “positive,” as it has so far respected the university’s autonomy and not interfered in his decision to provide legal aid to the students.
The Batla House encounter and subsequent arrests of only Muslims, however, have prompted most Muslims to view government’s response as negative. The general opinion held among them is that it was a “fake” encounter.
Mujtaba Farooqi, secretary the Jamaat-e-Islami told Arab News: “The Batla House encounter is just a minor example of the manner in which Muslims are being falsely targeted as terrorists.”
He and several Muslim leaders expressed the opinion that this “communal agenda” was a follow-up of Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States with only Muslims being nabbed as terrorists, in keeping with anti-terrorism pattern followed there.
In protest against the government’s “negative” attitude, a large number of Muslim organizations and other like-minded leaders staged a demonstration yesterday at Jantar Mantar, Farooqi said. Maulana Asjad Madani, chairperson of Freedom Fighter Hussain Ahmad Madani Education Front and a member of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) working committee, said that the entire operation was deliberately planned to target Muslims. Drawing attention to the bullet wounds received by the two killed in the so-called encounter, being point blank, Madani said: “This cannot happen in an encounter.”
Besides, the policeman (M.C. Sharma), who later succumbed to his injuries, received bullet wounds from the back.
In Madani’s and other Muslim leaders’ opinion, Sharma received shots (accidentally) from his own colleagues, who started firing indiscriminately to give the impression of their being engaged in a “heavy encounter.”
If he was shot in an encounter, the questions being posed are: Where is the weapon by which Sharma was killed; why have the forensic reports of the bullets which killed him not been made public; whose fingerprints are present on the weapon that killed him; why did the police go there without any search and arrest warrant; if the police were sure of nabbing terrorists, why were several of them not wearing bulletproof vests?
“Till date, authorities have not been able to prove charges against a single Indian Muslim who has been arrested as a suspect terrorist,” Madani pointed out. The Muslim leaders are agitated about the authorities not adopting a similar attitude toward Hindu extremists indulging in terrorist operations against Christians and the ones caught while assembling bombs.
