Police Attempt to Create Sectarian Differences among Muslims

The way Hyderabad police is conducting investigations into last month’s bomb blast at Makkah Masjid and the subsequent police firing on protestors not only shows its highly biased attitude but also exposes its attempts to create sectarian differences among the Muslim community.

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June 17, 2022

The way Hyderabad police is conducting investigations into last month’s bomb blast at Makkah Masjid and the subsequent police firing on protestors not only shows its highly biased attitude but also exposes its attempts to create sectarian differences among the Muslim community.

Two reports of the investigations conducted by the police have brought to fore startling facts about the anti-Muslim mindset of some police officers. The confidential reports, which have been leaked, show how the police officers reached their own conclusions about the organisations involved in the bomb blast without finding a single clue.

The two reports were made available to media by Hyderabad MP and Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi.

While the report on the bomb blast is a pack of lies and attempts to create differences among Muslims, the report on subsequent police firing on protestors justifies the police highhandedness and brutality. Both the reports are full of contradictory statements of police officers about the events that followed the blast.

Nine people were killed in the blast during Friday prayers at the 17th century mosque while five people died in the subsequent police firing on protestors near the mosque.

The 24-page report on the blast claims that ‘Ahle Hadees militant group’ is responsible for blast during Friday prayers at Makkah Masjid on May 18. The report prepared by deputy commissioner of police, south zone Kantha Rao goes on to claim that the blast was aimed at killing ‘Sunnath-ul Jamaat Muslims.’

The report on page 2 said: “Some unknown persons planted two high explosive bombs with an intention to kill innocent people. Out of the two bombs, the offenders blasted one bomb.”

It went on to say on page 3: “There is ongoing rivalry between Sunnath-ul Jamaat people and Ahle Hadees militant Muslim group”. From here the reports quickly jumps on to say in the next sentence: “This has to be ruled out. The role of LeT (Lashkar-e-Toiba) and Harakt-ul Mujahid (Harkat-ul Mujahideen) has to be checked.”

Muslim leaders have reacted sharply to the police report. “It is nothing but an attempt to create differences among Muslims. All Muslims pray at the Makkah Masjid and it is highly condemnable to say that blast was carried out by Ahle Hadees,” said Asaduddin Owaisi.

“Muslims are the victims of the blast and they are also being made accused in the incident,” he said.

Muslim leaders pointed out that there was no known animosity between the two groups. The two are among the many schools of thought amongst the Sunnis and have different views of certain precepts of Islam. “We strongly condemn the allegation. How can police think that we will target a mosque. The champions of Islam can’t even think of targeting a mosque,” said Moulana Abdul Rehman Farooqi of Jamiat Ahle Hadees. He alleged that by making such wild allegations, police is trying to shield the real culprits.

“Muslims of all sects offer prayers at Makkah Masjid and it in unimaginable that they themselves will carry out bomb blast in the mosque,” said Moulana Mufti Khaleel Ahmed, Shaikul Jamia, Jamia Nizamia.

This shoddy police investigation came to light days after evidence of another goof-up by police surfaced. Special Investigation Unit of Hyderabad police had picked up a meat shop owner Shoaib Jagirdar from Jalna in Maharashtra for his role in the blast. He, however, turned out to be an innocent in the case. He was later booked under Passport Act for attempting to obtain passport for one Sameer, an alleged operative of Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Sameer, who was in the custody of Maharashtra police, was brought to Hyderabad last week for interrogation in the blast case. Sameer, however, told newsmen that he was being falsely implicated by the police.

The report on the police firing said that a mob of about 600 that came out of Makkah Masjid soon after the bomb blast started rioting with a view to killing police personnel and setting on fire Bharat Petrol station.

The same report on another page said that an angry mob of thousands of people came out from Makkah Masjid and ran towards Haribowly crossroads, with the intention of attacking houses of Hindus. A mob of 500-600 people then attacked Charminar Wine shop and set it ablaze. Thereafter, the frenzied mob attacked Bharat Petrol bunk owing to communal hatred. They also wanted to kill the police personnel and workers of the petrol station. Thirteen policemen were injured. To safeguard human lives, the police opened fire after following statutory warnings.

Owaisi strongly contested the contention in the report that it gave statutory warnings before opening fire and said that the Very High Frequency (VHF) sets that were used at that time should be seized along with its recorded messages.

The police did not use batons to disperse the mob nor did it resort to firing in the air before killing people with direct hits, he claimed.

“It was genocide. Police fired from self loading rifles, which are generally used against Naxalites, to kill innocent youths,” he said.

Asaduddin Owaisi challenged Director-General of Police M. A. Basith to a debate to disprove that the police had fired rubber bullets to control the mob.

The way police tackled the protestors shows that there are two kinds of policing in the state. “Not a single shot was fired when Madiga Reservation Porata Samiti activists set afire 110 buses and five bogies of a train last month,” he said referring to the protest by the scheduled caste group for classification of SCs.

Owaisi also pointed out that police killed two Muslim youths in encounters a day after the bomb blast at Sai Baba temple in Hyderabad in 2003.

Owaisi demanded immediate suspension of police officers for ‘unprovoked’ firing on protestors after the blast. “Why the government is not suspending guilty officers,” he said and warned the Congress government that it would lose the support of Muslim community if it failed to act against such police officers.

The MP said he suspected the involvement of Hindu extremist groups in the blast and asked police to conduct investigations into their role.

“Our demand is that police treat Bajrang Dal and other Hindu extremist groups as suspects,” he said and pointed out that four people were killed in Bajrang Dal office in Nanded (Maharashtra) last year when some activists of the outfit were making explosives.

“Since Makkah Masjid had been hit, Hyderabad is no longer safe. A sense of insecurity has gripped the people of this city,” he said.