Hyderabad: The arrest of a cleric of an Islamic madrasa by Gujarat police has shocked the Muslim community, which is mounting pressure on Andhra Pradesh government to stop extending cooperation to Gujarat police.
The arrest of Mufti Ashraf Ali, head of Sabeel-ul-Falah in Barkas area in the old city on June 30 has angered the Muslims, who now plan to take to streets to vent their anger.
A team of policemen reached the madrasa and asked Mufti to accompany them. They said they wanted to question him regarding the May 18 bomb blast at the historic Makkah Masjid here.
When their teacher did not return even after several hours, the students rushed to city police’s task force office, where they were told that he was arrested by Gujarat police and taken to Ahmedabad.
The students were also told that he was arrested in connection with the murder of former Gujarat home minister Haren Pandya. He was charged with giving shelter to Mufti Sufian Patangia and Sohail Khan, the two absconders in Pandya case.
Mufti Ashraf Ali is the second cleric from Hyderabad to be arrested by Gujarat police in Pandya case. In 2004 Maulana Naseeruddin of Tehreek Tahafuz Shaair-e-Islam was arrested by Gujarat police. A youth Mujahid Saleem was also killed in firing by a Gujarat police official when followers of the cleric protested his arrest.
Maulana Naseeruddin is still lodged in Ahmedabad jail along with 18 other people, who were arrested from Hyderabad and surrounding towns in Pandya case and Greater conspiracy case, also known as DCB-6.
Mufti Ashraf Ali was arrested five days after POTA court in Ahmedabad delivered the verdict in Pandya murder case. The court sentenced 12 accused including three from Andhra Pradesh to imprisonment. Nine accused were sentenced for life. Asghar Ali, the prime accused from Nalgonda town, was sentenced to imprisonment till his natural death. Two other youths from Hyderabad were sentenced to seven years on charges of terrorism.
The arrest has shocked Muslims as the POTA court verdict was questioned by the family of Haren Pandya. The widow of Pandya has gone on record that she did not believe that Muslims killed her husband. The family members alleged that Chief Minister Narendra Modi was behind the murder as Pandya had developed differences with him.
Pandya was shot dead on March 26, 2003 at Law Garden in Ahmedabad during a morning walk.
The harassment of Muslim youth by Gujarat police, which began after Pandya murder, is still continuing. A dozen other Muslim youths were arrested on charges of waging a war against the nation. They were accused of undergoing arms training to take revenge for the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat.
The Muslim community here is living under constant fear and sense of insecurity as Gujarat police planned to return again to arrest four other teachers of madarsas in Pandya case.
The arrest was also made at a time when eminent activists, fighting for the oppressed in Gujarat, were in Hyderabad to address various meetings. They include former IAS officer of Gujarat Harsh Mandar, civil rights activist and journalist Teesta Setalvad and Supreme Court advocate Nitya Ramakrishna. Addressing various meetings, they exposed how the Gujarat government was trampling on human rights.
After the arrest of Mufti Ashraf Ali, an emergency meeting called by Urdu daily Siasat was attended by representatives of madarsas in the city. It was decided to launch a public movement to protest the arrests. The participants criticised the Congress government in the state for cooperating with Gujarat police. Nitya Ramakrishna also attended the meeting and said Gujarat police were trying to delay the hearing in DCB-6, in which 135 people are listed as accused.
Eminent religious scholar and president of Deeni Madaris Board, Andhra Pradesh Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani said the arrest made without any evidence was an attempt to malign madrasas. “The Gujarat police are notorious for repression and foisting false cases against innocent Muslims. This was exposed in fake encounter case and on a number of occasions in Supreme Court,” he said.
Hyderabad MP and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi demanded that the police immediately stop extending cooperation to their Gujarat counterparts.
“How long the Hyderabad police will continue to send Hyderabadi Muslim youth to Gujarat jails,” asked Owaisi. He said instead of arresting Gujarat police official Narendra Amin and bringing him to Hyderabad in connection with the murder of Mujahid Saleem, Hyderabad police was extending cooperation in arresting innocent people.
MIM leader said this cooperation was continuing even though it was proved beyond any doubt that Gujarat police had killed Sohrabuddin Sheikh in fake encounter and also murdered his wife Kausar Bi. The Gujarat police with the help from their counterparts in Hyderabad had kidnapped the couple from a bus in November 2005.
They were taken to Ahmedabad where Sheikh and his wife were murdered.
Geeta Johri, Gujarat CID official investigating the fake encounter, had come to Hyderabad in May to question few police officials.
Muslims Angry over the Arrest of Cleric by Gujarat Police
Hyderabad: The arrest of a cleric of an Islamic madrasa by Gujarat police has shocked the Muslim community, which is mounting pressure on Andhra Pradesh government to stop extending cooperation to Gujarat police. The arrest of Mufti Ashraf Ali, head of Sabeel-ul-Falah in Barkas area in the old city on June 30 has angered the…
