There is nothing more satisfying to hearts and minds when one hears something right from the horse’s mouth. And if the speaker is a veteran journalist then it becomes even more satisfying as journalists develop an uncanny knack of seeing what is beyond the imagination of many. This moment came when Mohammad Ahmed Kazmi spoke about his ordeal and the overt and covert reasons behind his arrest and the nexus of the national and international security agencies, at the monthly programme organised by All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat on November 30.
Kazmi, who kept a close watch on the happenings in the Middles East and in particular Israel and Palestine, was writing extensively about Israel and was exposing its frailties. He wrote explicitly about the fragile Israeli army and proved to the readers that what appears of the Israeli army is all façade and the reality is that they are weak as they were badly beaten and crushed by small groups like Hezbollah in 2006 and Hamas in 2008. He narrated the incident when two years ago he wrote an article entitled “Yahoodi Israel se Faraar.” Soon after the article was published, he received a call from the Israeli embassy that the authorities wanted to meet him and enquired when he could go for the meeting. As a veteran journalist he knew how Israelis operate and understood the plot and refused to meet them. “They call you to a certain hotel where different gadgets and bugs are placed and they do the profiling of individuals there,” he added.
He said that one of the prime reasons for his implication was that he was very unequivocal and explicit about the nexus between the national and international agencies. Days before his arrest, he had said that the agencies in India should work independently and not under the pressure from other agencies. On the day of his arrest he was overpowered by the agencies and when he asked for the warrant of his arrest, one of the persons called up his senior who told Kazmi in a harsh tone, “Should I send you the warrant right now.” Once inside, Kazmi experienced the reality and realised that the police and intelligence agencies have excellent ‘fiction writers’ who cook up stories and put the characters into it accordingly. Talking about the role of the security agencies, he said the present situation is that the security agencies pounce upon an innocent youth exactly as the vultures pounce over the dead meat. Whenever someone is caught, all come to claim it and the turf war starts between the intelligence agencies, state police, etc.
He enunciated three major reasons for his arrest. First, it was an attempt to malign the name of Iran. Secondly, it was an attempt to damage the growing and friendly Indo-Iran relations. The US was building pressure on India to sever ties with Iran and earlier Condoleezza Rice had said that India should not go with the pipeline project with Iran. They even went to the extent of saying that any country that keeps ties with Iran is indirectly supporting its nuclear enrichment. And thirdly, his arrest was to send the message across that those who are writing and trying to expose the sinister plans of Israel will meet the same fate, so beware.
He inked the growing wariness in the country over terrorism to the security agencies. Recently, the issue of NCTC was raised and there were many states that were in strong opposition to it as it would have stripped powers of the state. Interestingly, intelligence agencies and the police began to arrest people from those states that were against NCTC. It was to give them a hint that they are vulnerable and the country desperately needs NCTC, he added. Similar is the issue of Indian Mujahidin. He said that the time when Indian Mujahidin came into existence, the United States had good relations with India as well as Pakistan and hence the story of cross border terrorism must stop. This gave rise to the term ‘home-grown terrorism’, and Indian Mujahidin was born. This is how things shape and turn up, he added.
He narrated the ordeal of the people inside jail who pay the lawyers to fight their cases. But the lawyers, he alleged, instead of fighting the cases for them, do the other way round. They deliberately make the cases weak and the innocent remains behind the bar for ever. Interestingly, one also hears about such lawyers as to have received threat that they should leave the case of the terrorist victim. These stories are just an eye-wash and what lies behind is something magnificent and big.
Such propaganda and arrest of innocent youths is nothing but a psychological warfare so as to demoralise the Muslims and to keep them under fear, he said.
Pondering over the whole incident, he said India remained at loss as it lost its friend, Iran, and failed to woo Israel. On the one hand, India lost the trust of Iran which used to give her oil at cheap prices and often handled the problem of balance of payment by export from India. On the other hand, it will not be able to woo Israel as they have no proof to prove the case. He concluded by saying that people should unite and the sectarian differences should not prevent us from standing side by side with each other. Those who call for sectarianism or invoke sectarian ideas are neither Shia nor Sunni but they are the agents of the colonial powers.
During the interactive question and answer session one very important point was about those who are not well-known and famous. One man from the audience urged people that there is a need to stand up in every case not just in selected few. Mr. Kazmi’s case got such a huge publicity because it was a high profile case; however had it been someone else, there would not have been the same backing. Referring to some of the cases of 1993 blasts that are still in the Supreme Court, the man asked the people to join hands in bringing justice to those unfortunate ones as well. “It would have been a cause of greater happiness had Saqib Nachan got reprieve along with Mr. Kazmi,” he added.