Hundreds of hijab-clad Muslim women staged a sit-in under the banner of Ladies Wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Girls Islamic Organisation at Jantar Mantar on May 16 demanding justice for Kauser Bi and Ishrat Jahan, who were allegedly killed by senior police officers of Gujarat . They also demanded an end to fake encounters.
On the call given by India Peace Organisation, the dharna was also joined by the representatives of some human rights organisations like Progami Mahila Sangathan, People’s Union for Civil Liberties, Lok Rajya Sangathan, Amar Ekta Manch and World Council of Arya Samaj, to show solidarity with the innocent victims of “Moditva”.
Holding placards and raising slogans, Muslim women demanded resignation of chief minister Narendra Modi, persecution of DG Vanzara and CBI probe into Kauser Bi and Ishrat Jahan killings.
“We demand a CBI inquiry into the case and the case should be taken from Gujarat government as they are like the Milosevics of Bosnia, who used to kill Muslims,” said India Peace Organisation president Dr Begum Fatima Shahnaz.
“The brutal killing of Kauser Bi followed by donning to death of Sohrabuddin Sheikh in a staged encounter is an open case of state terrorism of Gujarat,” said organiser Ladies Wing Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Delhi and Haryana Shaista Rafat.
“According to the law of the land, the government as well as its law and order machinery is responsible for protection of the citizens. But the tragedy is that Kauser Bi and Ishrat Jahan were killed not by some dacoit or dreaded criminal; senior police officials of Gujarat, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh as well as those at the helm of affairs in Gujarat are involved in these killings,” she added.
“Police is the custodian of peace and justice but Mr Vanzara along with his colleagues hatched a plan of murder, a conspiracy to eliminate Sohrabuddin. They should be charged and taken to task for conspiracy, murder and destruction of evidence,” another speaker Nasreen Shakir said without mincing the words.
“Need of the hour is no efforts should be spared to bring to book the culprits and their bosses. No one should be spared however high and mighty. This is a test case for the Apex Court and the entire judiciary as well as the executive. It should be proved that no one is above law, no one is allowed to take the law in the hands. The supremacy of law should be upheld at any cost,” she further said demanding, “Punish the killers, respect human life and close the chapter of fake encounters.”
Organiser GIO Nuzhat Yasmin said, “The situation taking shape in India bears evidence of jungle raj here. The law and order machinery is playing with laws. If there is rule of law in the country, everyone will have to go by laws.”
She also demanded due punishment for those responsible for the killings of innocent persons and justice for the victims.
One speaker Kavita remarked, “Gujarat government’s confession of Gujarat police involvement in the killing of Kauser Bi shows that Narendra Modi wants to evade CBI probe in the case. And evading CBI enquiry means that there is much in the closet of Modi yet to be revealed. The government must initiate CBI enquiry in the Kauser Bi killing and fake encounters.”
“Jantar Mantar has witnessed many protests and sit-ins but this is unique in the sense that today burqa-clad Muslim women have come out to protest the killing of innocent persons,” said Swami Agnivesh of World Council of Arya Samaj. “This shows that the problem has touched the nadir.”
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Assistant Secretary-General Mujtaba Farooque, its Central Advisory Council member Dr. S.Q.R. Ilyas and Assistant Secretary Dr. N.K. Afandi also addressed the gathering.
Dr. Afandi also alleged that there have been 638 cases of fake encounters in the country in the last ten years and several people have lost their lives in this kind of “state sponsored terrorism”.
Later, a three-member delegation consisting of Dr. N.K. Afandi, Dr. Fatima Shahnaz and Shaista Rafat was led to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil whom they submitted a memorandum.
The memorandum said inter alia: “We demand these criminal undercover law enforcement officers under the direct command of the government of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and the Government of Rajasthan be brought to justice for their egregious crimes against humanity and murder of civilians, including a woman, Kauser Bi, who was reportedly raped, her human remains burned and concealed in undisclosed locations.
“We demand that the Government of Narendra Modi, Chief Minister, responsible for state-terrorism targeting the Muslim community, be dismissed in order to end the political corruption and abuses of power this state has practiced with impunity since 2002. The other governments of Maharashtra and Rajasthan which have colluded in acts of state terrorism in this and other cases should be brought to task to restore justice, peace and security in our homeland.”
The 11-point demands mentioned in the memorandum include “a halt to the reign of terror and ‘ethnic cleansing’ which has systematically targeted the Muslim community of Gujarat since the carnage of 2002, and which is now spreading to other Indian states like Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra targeting Muslim minorities under the pretext of the ‘war against terrorism’,” and “an immediate cessation of extra-judiciary arrests, executions and murders of Muslims and other minorities in ‘staged’ or other encounters under the abuse of state power by official agencies entrusted with the public welfare.”