October
13, 2006
Malegaon Bomb Blasts:
Who Is to Blame?
PRESS RELEASE
‘My
son, who was scheduled to complete his MBBS was one of the victims
who’s life ended on September 8, 2006. It is not only my loss, but a
loss to the nation.’ Said Shafiq Ahmed of his son, Sajid who was
meant to leave for China in a few weeks where he was to pursue his
MBBS. Mr. Shafiq Ahmed, was the first speaker, “ Malegaon
Blasts: Who Is to be Blame ?” a public meeting organised at the
KC College Mumbai on October 10. Mr. Ahmed had recently rejected the
cheque offered by Congress President Sonia Gandhi. In his opening
remarks, he vociferously accused successive governments of
neglecting Malegaon, which has become a laawaris city,
lacking not only in industrial and educational development but basic
civic infrastructure such as adequate public hospitals. He demanded
justice for the citizens of Malegaon.
Most
speakers including Javed Akhtar, lyricist, Justice Kolse Patil,
Vilas Sonawane, responsible for setting up the Muslim OBC front in
the state, SM Mushrif, former Commissioner of Police, Pune and
Teesta Setalvad, co-editor, Communalism Combat, repeatedly
accused the investigating agency of communal bias and also
criticized the media for perpetuating the Muslim equals terrorist
myth and not acting responsibly in reporting events.
Malauana Azhari directed sharp
criticism towards police in Malegaon who maintained high vigilance
in patrolling the town during the Ganpati festival, but failed to
provide similar security after Ganesh Visarjan on 6th
September. On Shab-e-baraat, Friday, 8th September there
were no police patrolling or security measures in place. Maulana
Azari said he was in favour of keeping a close watch on SIMI,
however, he demanded that the police also keep an equally close
watch on the activities of VHP, Bajrang Dal and RSS. Mr. Naseem
Siddiqui, State Minorities Commission Chairman, suggested that there
be mechanisms involving NGOs and/or Human Rights bodies for
monitoring of police investigations while they were taking place.
Mr. S. M. Mushrif, a retired IPS
officer, spoke at length about the need to revamp the Intelligence
Bureau wing of the police, nationally. The IB he said was one of
the most powerful agencies that fed disinformation to the executive
and according to him was also victim of deep-seated bias in recent
years. The role of the IB,
he said, must be to provide specific intelligence on events and not
be a vehicle of general rumour-mongering against sections of the
people. Instead he stated, the IB was often the source of spreading
unsubstantiated rumours that led to these reports then being quoted
in the media. The media too must not be an instrument of the police
or the government disinformation but work to investigate and provide
different perspectives and substantiated theories.
Ms. Teesta Setalvad’s said
that durable peace was not possible without justice. She drew
attention to her stody of towns like Godhra, Mumbra and Malegaon
wherein she had observed that such locales –and wards A,D and E
within the city of Mumbai with distinct Muslim majorities—were
victims of socio-economic exclusion that faced discrimination by
administrative authorities. She said that she had observed that
whenever a town or area became a Muslim majority an
‘institutionalised prejudice’ began working against it.
Ms Setalvad also spoke at
length on the issue of discriminatory justice and pointed out that
despite the recommendations of the Justice Srikrishna Commission
report into the 1992-1993 post-Babri Masjid demolition, no serious
prosecutions had been pursued by the state of Maharashtra despite
electoral promises to the contrary. The media too remained silent on
the issues of discriminatory justice, she said.
Mr. Javed Akhtar expressed
bitter disappointment at the state of affairs in India. The police
investigating the Malegaon Blasts were quick to rule out the
possibility that the bombs might have been the handiwork of Bajrang
Dal, which has been active in the Marathwada region. ‘Does RDX have
a special stamp establishing its link to Muslims?’ Mr. Akhtar asked.
Responding to the recent SMS that has been circulating since 7/11,
which states, “Every Muslim is not a terrorist, But every terrorist
is a Muslim,” he asked whether Naxalites, Maoists, ULFA and LTTE
were all Muslims. ‘And those who are responsible for Gujarat riots,
were those just firemen then?’
Justice Kolse Patil
referred to the 195 kilogram haul of RDX in Ahmednagar town on
September 2 and the strange facts around this affair. The man who’s
godown had stocked this was found dead on September 10 and an
employee of his was absconding. He said that the one-sided attitude
of the police and administration itself was proof that the truth
would not be arrived at.
The meeting had been
jointly organised by the Maulana Azad Research Centre, Malegaon,
National Awakening for Development of Youth, Malegaon,
Communalism Combat, Citizens for Justice and Peace and Muslims
for Secular Democracy.