DELEGATION OF MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADERS C/o D-250, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025 India Tel.: 011-26946780, 9990366660 Fax: 011-26947346 Monday, 16 September, 2013 Dr. Manmohan Singhji Hon’ble Prime Minister of India New Delhi Respected Sir, We, the undersigned, representing major Indian Muslim organisations, wish to draw your kind attention to the wave of communal violence sweeping across a number of states, especially in north India. The most serious in these recent flare-ups is the violence in and around Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh. Many of us have extensively toured the camps of the uprooted and feel that a “mini-Gujarat” has been inflicted upon Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining areas. A very short summary of our observations is appended to this letter. Though the violence has abated now but stray incidents are still taking place every day. An estimated one lakh people (all Muslims) have been uprooted. Some 65,000 are living in around two dozen camps run in madrasahs, Eidgahs etc or are sheltered in hundreds of houses in other villages. Others have gone to live with their relatives. Even now no proper relief measures have been taken and no serious documentation is being made and no FIRs are filed. It is our request to you to kindly ensure: a. Proper relief of ration and other necessary needs of life to those living in camps as well as with relatives. b. Urgent documentation and preparation of lists with all details of names, losses and people responsible for the carnage as per the victims. c. Filing of FIRs at the earliest so that the legal process could start to punish the guilty. d. Compensation of all losses suffered by the victims in terms of life, loss of cattle, houses looted and burnt and crops destroyed/looted etc. e. Construction/repair of burnt/demolished/damaged houses, mosques, madrasahs etc. f. Construction of houses at other locations for those who do not wish to return to their villages (we found that no one is willing at least now to return to his/her village). We take this opportunity to impress upon you to ensure that the Communal Violence (Prevention) Bill is urgently passed or, if need be, brought in as an ordinance, in order to rein in and send a strong message to the forces trying to polarise and destabilise the country for political gains. We are hopeful that through these measures a strong message will be sent to all that your government is really committed to the welfare and safety of all Indians, especially the weak and defenceless. We remain yours sincerely, 1. Maulana Syed Jalauddin Umari President, Jamaat-e Islami Hind 2. Maulana Nusrat Ali General Secretary, Jamaat-e Islami Hind 3. Janab Mohammad Ahmad Secretary, Jamaat-e Islami Hind 4. Maulana Mahmood Madni General Secretary, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind 5. Maulana Niyaz Farooqui Member, Working Committee, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind 6. Janab Shakeel Ahmad Sayed Member, Working Committee, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind 7. Janab Kamal Faruqi Member, Working Committee, All India Muslim Personal law Board 8. Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan President, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat 9. Janab Navaid Hamid General Secretary, Movement for the Empowerment of Indian Muslims 10. Janab Abdul Khaliq Member Working Committee, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat 11. Maulana Ataur Rahman Qasmi Chairman, Shah Waliullah Institute 12. Maulana Muhsin Taqawi President, National Council of Shia Ulama 13. Dr Zafar Mahmood President, Zakat Foundation of India 14. Dr Taslim Rahmani President, Muslim Political Council 15. Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji Member, All India Muslim Personal Law Board 16. Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mahdi Salafi General Secretary, Markzai Jamiat Ahl-e Hadees 18. Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi, M.P., President All India Milli-wa-Ta’leemi Foundation [not present in Delhi but has consented to the above text]. DELEGATION OF MUSLIM COMMUNITY LEADERS C/o D-250, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025 India Tel.: 011-26946780, 9990366660 Fax: 011-26947346 OBSERVATIONS OF MUSLIM DELEGATIONS visiting camps of the uprooted in and around Munzaffarnagar in the light of the narrations of the uprooted 1. It was a one-sided attack by pro-BJP Jats . Almost no other Hindu community participated in the carnage. 2. The carnage took place only in villages where Muslims are in a small minority. 3. The carnage was pre-planned. Many meetings and three “mahapanchayats” were held before the carnage started. The so-called “eve-teasing” angle has now been proved false – it all started with a collision of motorcycles which was exploited by people who were waiting for a spark. 4. Police were helping and abetting the rioters before, during and after the carnage. Arms and other defence objects like ballams, gadansas and knives were collected by the police from Muslim homes BEFORE the carnage while arms were brought in from outside and distributed among the rioters. 5. SHO of Phugana (Omvir Sirohi), where it all started, gave the Hindus two hours from 8 am to 10 am on 8 September 2013 to do their job to teach a lesson to the Muslims. 6. Some Muslims, especially the elderly and children, are still trapped in some villages but police is not ready to bring them to safety. Denied of food and water, they may die soon if not already killed by the rioters. 7. Cattle in large numbers have either been looted or are left unattended in many abandoned homes without food and water and according to reports they are dying out of thirst and hunger if not already looted by the rioters. 8. People fled their villages at a notice of just minutes, hence they came out in the clothes they were wearing. They need clothes and bedding most. 9. Govt is supplying inadequate quantities of ration and liquid milk as well as some medical help at places where a bulk of the uprooted people are staying but not where they are staying in small numbers or in homes of villagers or relatives. 10. The uprooted urgently need items which are not provided by the govt like clothes, bedding, soap, dried milk, baby food, durries, chadars, utensils, etc. 11. Relief should be provided to all who have been forced to flee their homes until they are repatriated or a solution is found to resettle them somewhere else. 12. Many of uprooted people have farmlands where crops are ready to be harvested. These will either be stolen or lost if people are not given security to go there and harvest them. 13. Most homes have been burnt down with corpses inside. 14. Young girls have been abducted and there is no attempt by the police to recover them. 15. We did not find a single man or woman ready to return ever to their abandoned villages. Even uprooted people of "higher castes" like Mulla [Muslim] Jats are not ready to return to their villages. They want to start life afresh at other places. They should be encouraged to return to their homes and adequate security in the form of permanent police pickets should be posted there until normalcy returns completely. 16. Muslims of the area have come out honourably to help these uprooted people, thousands are lodged in homes in Muslim-dominated villages, others are housed in madrasahs, mosques and Eidgahs and other places. 17. Hindus too have come forward to prevent the violence and to help the victims as seen in Kandhla town were some 7500 uprooted people are sheltered in the Eidgah. The role of Kandhla S.P. (Harish Chandra Johsi) has been honourable and praiseworthy. 18. A proper documentation of all the uprooted is necessary at the earliest so that compensation and rehabilitation are done without injustice to any. 19. Adequate help should be given to all to rebuild their destroyed/burnt houses or to build new houses at other places of their choice. 20. Adequate compensation should be given to all the affected by the carnage for loss of life, injury, houses looted and burnt, and for cattle and crops lost. 21. FIRs should be filed individually and collectively in all cases of murder, attack, arson, loot, forced eviction, abduction, etc. 22. The police is not allowing any photography of the burnt houses in the affected villages. When it escorted some of the victims back to their homes to retrieve some of their belongings, police did not allow them to photograph the burnt homes some which were still smouldering. Police even collected their mobile phones in advance so that no photograph could be taken. Police in Kandhla were ready to provide some of us escort to go to some affected villages with the condition that we will not take any photographs. We think that the proofs will soon be destroyed. Therefore, documentation should include still and video photography of the looted and burnt homes.
Posted on: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 01:07:08 +0000
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