In continuation of recent spate of arrests of Muslims on dubious grounds, which certainly affected prospects of ruling alliance at the Centre in recent assembly elections, Special Cell of Delhi Police made a serious addition by arresting a senior Urdu Journalist, Md. Ahmad Kazmi in the case of attack on Israel’s diplomat’s Innova Car in New Delhi on Feb 13. His arrest rang alarm bells in the community as Kazmi is a well-known journalist. Media reports suggest active role of Israel in implicating Kazmi to buttress its claim of Iran’s involvement in the attack as he a regular visitor of Iran, contributes for Iran’s News Agency IRNA and extensively writes on issues relating to Iran and other Muslim countries. He is known as a hard critic of US and Israeli designs to establish their hegemony in the Muslim world.
Coordination Committee of Indian Muslims (CCIM) held an emergency meeting under the chairmanship of Mr. Mujtaba Farooq and condemned the arrest “forcefully”. A joint statement signed by prominent persons and representatives of several social originations said, “The continuing at random arrests of Muslims is not only a matter of grave concern for the community, but also injurious to the democratic setup of the country. It is a matter of alarm that now a senior member of the Urdu journalist community has been arrested without any apparent evidence or proof.” The statement noted, “Muhammad Ahmad Kazmi is a senior Urdu journalist of long standing who works and writes in the higher interests of the country.”
CCIM also sought time to meet with Union Home Minister, Delhi Police Commissioner, Lt Governor of Delhi and Delhi Chief Minister seeking their immediate intervention and to “stop the serial arrests and torture of Muslim youth.” It was also decided to approach Justice Markanday Katju, Chairman of Press Council of India as well as national and state minority commissions.
Seema Chishti reported in The Indian Express: “There is surprise and disquiet in the Urdu journalistic fraternity over the arrest of Kazmi for his alleged role in the attack on the Israeli diplomat.” She quoted noted Urdu journalist Saeed Naqvi saying: “He has a long and consistent record as an Urdu journalist… he is open about his views. He is Shia, he knew Persian and Arabic…. Are they after him because he is from the Urdu world?”
Former chief of UNI Urdu, Sheikh Manzoor said: “Kazmi has a long record as a journalist and was in Syria with us. His views on the situation in the Middle East were always openly expressed. Is there suspicion only because he writes for the Urdu press? What about freedom of expression?”
Editor of Urdu daily Sahafat, Hasan Shuja, who has known Kazmi for more than a decade, said, “I know him well and I am disturbed by these reports. Calling him a terrorist is so irresponsible. About eight days ago, he appeared on a TV show and made a forceful case against Israel and the USA. I think he has been on the radar ever since. The pressure on the police by Israel to catch someone finally resulted in them picking him up.”
Police sources said around 12 days ago, the “agencies” had given a report about an Iranian national who had conducted a recce and coordinated the attack. Later, when technical surveillance reportedly revealed that Kazmi was in active touch with the Iranian national, he was also put under surveillance early this month. Police said after two days of monitoring his activities, the special cell prepared a report and sent it to the agencies and two different ministries. “It took around four to five days to get a green signal from the ministries as he comes from the journalist fraternity,” a senior police officer said.
Tehelka reported, “Although there is no official word, it is believed that Israeli agencies had passed on certain inputs to their Indian counterparts that were further provided to Delhi police. In muted voices officials admit that information on suspects has been coming from central agencies. “There was a phone number of a suspect given by central agencies to us. It was immediately put on surveillance. It was not Kazmi’s. He was in constant touch with the suspect but we were unable to zero down on it,”
“He (Kazmi) is one of the conspirators of this wider conspiracy. This is a case of international terrorism. It is not necessary that only Indians are involved in this case. There is a possibility that some foreign nationals might be involved in the case,” public prosecutor Rajiv Mohan, representing the Delhi Police special cell, told Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vinod Yadav who was hearing remand application.
“We have already recorded the statement of the eyewitnesses. The conspiracy was hatched outside India. We do not want to disclose all the information as the main accused could go out of reach of the probe agency,” the prosecutor said. Police said an IED was used in the explosion and “everything was done in a planned manner”.
Opposing the police’s plea, Kazmi’s counsel Vijay Aggarwal accused the cops of forging documents related to the timing of his arrest and sought a probe against the concerned officials. Refusing to accept the police-file as the case diary, the counsel said, “Where is the case diary? No case diary has been produced and without it, the judge cannot extend the remand. Just because they (police) come and speak high-sounding words like international terrorism, it does not mean that remand of an accused should be granted to the police.”
He said Kazmi was made a scapegoat by police as the agency is under immense pressure to crack the case. Kazmi, a journalist, has covered the Iraq war and also used to visit the Iran embassy.
“They (police) are saying I am an international terrorist but I must say I am a national hero. I am a journalist and had covered Iraq war for DD news channel. I have been made a scapegoat because the police was under a huge pressure from all fractions to solve this case,” Aggarwal said, after getting the court’s nod to have a brief interaction with Kazmi.
Police claimed that Kazmi accepted money for his role. But where is that money? Only 12 hundred dollars were found at his residence. Certainly, nobody is expected to believe that Kazmi agreed to be part of a terror plot for mere 1200 dollars? Or an old Scooty can follow high speed cars like Innova. Kazmi was not a visitor to Israel’s embassy and it cannot be believed that a person like him can effectively carry out the work of recce of Israel’s diplomats. On the day of the attack on the car Kazmi was sitting on a dharna in front of 24, Akbar Road (Congress headquarters) along with hundreds of others led by prominent leader Maulana Kalbe Jawad. For a journalist, who has been reporting on West Asia for over 15 years, having all kinds of contacts is inevitable. Delhi police sources, however, claim this as a reason of suspicion.
Protesting his arrest, Delhi Union of Journalists has written to the Delhi Police Commissioner BK Gupta, urging him to step in. “Investigations can continue but he should be released on bail since he is cooperating with the investigations. We do not want the police to indulge in a media trial. If there is any need for information to be given, it should only be through an official press note,” said SK Pandey, general secretary of the body in a press meet.
Kazmi was arrested at a time when Israel’s P.M. Netanyahu was on a visit to USA and the country is trying hard to implicate Iran in the car attack. The news of his arrest has served the mission of Zionist regime. But Indian officials refused to assign blame, saying investigations were on. Even after Kazmi’s arrest, the Ministry of External Affairs refused to “draw any conclusions”.
“As you are aware, investigations are underway in this case… The investigators are pursuing various leads… and our understanding is that no conclusions can be drawn at this stage,” MEA spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin told reporters in response to queries.
In plain clothes, Delhi Police Special Cell sleuths approached him for help when he was returning home for noon prayers and lunch on Mar 6 after taking English Class at India Islamic Cultural Centre. His son Sahuzab told media, “My father called and informed us about it. He said a few men in plainclothes approached him and asked him to cooperate and come along with them. He also said it was fine and there was no problem.” Then his phone went switched off.
He was taken to Lodhi Road PS and questioned for several hours. The police took him to his house in B K Dutt Colony at night at about 9.30 pm and searched his house without a warrant and without fulfilling legal formalities for search operation. They took away a laptop, a computer, some papers, his Alto Car and the old Scooty lying there since much before the attack on Israel’s diplomat. Sahuzab followed them to the police station. There the police reportedly forced him and his father to sign the arrest warrant at 2:30 am.
A student of class XII, Kazmi’s younger son said, “My priority now is to clear the stain the police have given to my father’s name. I will not take the exams this year. We will fight till the police clear my father’s name from their concocted story.”
A religious sober lady, Kazmi’s wife Jahanara believes “he is innocent and one day the truth will come out for sure.” Talking to media persons outside her house, Jahanara said, “My husband has been at the fore of many social issues. The police have failed to arrest the real culprits and are now trying to frame him in this case. He is innocent.”
[email: syyedagha@hotmail.com]