Muhammad Ahmed (2nd from right) meeting with MLA Amanatullah (extreme right)
Jamaat along with Delhi Waqf Board to Rebuild Houses/Shops of Victims
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind having formed different teams comprising volunteers is striving for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of Northeast Delhi pogrom. The Jamaat has formed separate teams for medical aid, legal aid, survey team to assess the extent of loss and damage, and one team to find out the factors working behind the eruption of the violence. It has assigned its National Secretary for Social Service, Mr. Mohammed Ahmed the task of ascertaining the extent of loss and preparing an estimate for rehabilitation of the victims. Mr. Ahmed met with the Chairman of Delhi Waqf Board, Mr. Amanatullah in the office of the Board and assured him of Jamaat’s full cooperation in the rehabilitation work. He told Mr. Amanatullah that he would work together with the Board in rebuilding the houses and shops of the victims of Northeast Delhi pogrom.
Mr. Mohammed Ahmed said he had surveyed riot-hit areas in different parts of the country but had never seen the barbarism that he saw in the pogrom spread over 8 kilometres of Northeast Delhi. Here places of worship were specifically targeted on the pattern of Gujarat pogrom 2002; 19 mosques have been either gutted or badly damaged; explosives were used to blow up these mosques. He said that some people came to the areas from outside and started inflicting barbaric attacks on Muslims. The houses and shops belonging to Muslims were selectively targeted, indicating that this attack was made in a planned manner and was one-sided. The tragic irony is that when the persons who had fled out of fear and terror just to save their lives, go back to see their burnt houses and belongings, the police arrest them, calling them rioters, under Section 307, and subject them to the third degree. Mr. Ahmed added that the entire locality is in the grip of fear, leaving the youth apprehensive of police raid and arrest anytime. This one-sided action has created an ambience of injustice.
The Jamaat’s National Secretary for Community Affairs, Mr. Malik Motasim Khan said this destruction could have been averted if the police had been serious in fulfilling its responsibilities. An attempt was made to massacre the entire Muslim community in the locality. It is a matter of surprise that the police are arresting even those Muslims who had protected the temples in their mohallas. The situation has come to such a sorry pass that the injured feel reluctant to get treated in hospital with the apprehension of being arrested.
Different organisations are working in the affected areas. However, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind along with Society for Bright Future (SBF) and Association for Protection of Civil Rights (APCR) has been providing aid for the victims from the very beginning. The Jamaat readied a team of doctors and got around 2000 injured persons treated; some persons were seriously injured and required to be admitted to hospital; the Jamaat got 19 such persons admitted to Al Shifa Multi Speciality Hospital and got them treated there under its special care. In the relief camps about 1500 refugees were provided with clothes, beds, napkins for kids as well as food and drinking water. The victims who experienced difficulties in registering formal complaints were aided in getting FIRs registered with the help of a team of advocates.