Council of Indian Muslims (UK)

By Arundhati Roy

The Mumbai attacks have been dubbed 'India's 9/11', and there are calls for a 9/11-style response, including an attack on Pakistan. Instead, the country must fight terrorism with justice, or face civil war

M Ghazali Khan

Reports of police torture of Malegaon blast accused are shameful. The notice issued by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) to Maharashtra's director general of police and the chief secretary over the alleged torture of Sadhvi Pragya Thakur is a good beginning to bring law enforcement agencies to sanity. This probably is the first time in Indian history when any governmental/semi-governmental body has taken notice of police’s hitherto unchallenged and unlimited powers that have tacitly been approved and accepted by the society. Ironic, though it is that it took some members of the majority community to be arrested and tortured in police custody to give a wakeup call to the society.

By Mohammed Siddique, TwoCircles.net

Hyderabad: At first glance one can think of him as a college student, or a smart marketing executive or perhaps a call center worker. But Imran Khan today is none of them. His calm demeanor and occasional smiles are just a façade behind which he tries to hide his internal turmoil and agony caused by the events of last 16 months.

By Iqbal A Ansari

The political class in India and the governments have been treating terrorism as the major threat to the nation, whereas 'communal riots' are events causing some disturbance, which can be taken in national strides, especially as its victims are mostly minorities, i.e. "the other". Classifying and labeling of incidents of mass violence into ‘communal’ and 'terrorist' and unlawful use of force by the state being treated as mere 'excesses' has caused serious distortion in the attitudes of the public, and the policy-makers in India, which unless corrected, will continue to impair the capability of the state and society to effectively deal with all varieties of violence whose victims are innocents. It is well that the Administrative Reforms Commission's fifth report on Public Order as well as the Apex Court's observations twice in the course of hearing of cases of Gujarat carnage 2002 has characterized communal violence as a greater threat to the state and society than terrorism. Even more important is the linkage between them as definitively established by Justice Srikrishna Commission for the Mumbai serial blasts of March 1993 and by Justice Gokula Krishna for the Coimbatore blasts of 1998.The learned trial judge of Coimbatore blasts took cognizance of the targeted killings of Muslims by the police during the 'riots' in 1997, which made sections of angry, frustrated Muslim youth feel desperate, who having lost hope in the system, took recourse to terrorism.

By Razi Raziuddin

Scrutinizing and analyzing all the stories of the recent past regarding the bomb blasts and the police actions, an "image of perception" seems to be in the making in the psyche of ordinary and common Indians, that out there in the vastness of our Indian landscape (few or many) Muslims have embraced terrorism disturbing and destroying the peace and progress of India. From what we have witnessed it can be justifiably argued that the custodians of law and security agencies, under the rule of secular NDA government have been in the forefront in "implanting" this perception into the minds of Indian citizenry. The majority of mainstream and vernacular Indian media also appears to be hand in glove in radiating this perception.

By Md Mudassir Alam

THE CIVILISED society across the world hates terrorists for their misdeeds. Of course, the terrorists deserve severe punishment and need to be wiped away from the world. But sadly at present, the whole world is battling with the menace of terrorism. India too has become a hub of terrorist outfits and recently they attacked in the heart of the country - Delhi.

Rashmi Rajput

The revelations by Mumbai Police related to the Delhi encounter is raising questions over the killing of Atif -- alleged mastermind behind the Delhi serial blasts.

The lead to Atif, they claim, came from Afzal Usmani -- one of the suspects who stole the cars used to plant bombs in Ahmedabad.

The Mumbai Police had arrested Usmani almost a month ago in August. He gave detailed descriptions of Atif and his associates whom he had met in Gujarat.

"Afzal knew Atif and had met him in Gujarat," said Rakesh Maria, Joint Commissioner of Police.

Co-ordination Committee of Indian Muslims

The Coordination Committee of Indian Muslims, representing all major Indian Muslim organizations, is an ad hoc high level committee set up to deal with the current terrorism scare aiming the Muslim community in India.

The committee expresses its sorrow and grief at the untimely death of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma during the encounter in Jamia Nagar’s Batla House on 19 September. The community offers its sincere condolences to his family.

http://www.anhadin.net/article55.html

Saturday 20 September 2008, by Shabnam Hashmi

A team comprising activists, academicians and journalists visited the site of the police operation against alleged terrorists staying in an apartment in Jamia Nagar in the afternoon of 20.09.2008 (Saturday). Two alleged terrorists Atif and Sajid, along with Mohan Chand Sharma, an inspector of the Delhi Police’s Special Cell died in the operation while a third alleged terrorist was arrested.

By Md. Ali and Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net

New Delhi: "With due respect to secularism and with due respect to the honourable Chief Minister of Gujarat" said a person from Gujarat when he began giving information to TwoCircles.net about a communal violence there.