|
Hyderabad conclave shames
India’s record
Jagmohan Singh
in Hyderabad
| |
The People’s Tribunal at
Hyderabad exposes how in the last decade, Indian nation state has
made profiling of minorities, particularly Muslims, a key instrument
of its so-called strategy to fight terrorism. India's best and the
brightest were among the jury before which the victims deposed. A
WSN Exclusive. |
|
 HYDERABAD: “If
you can do something, please get my son back. He is in jail for the
last seven years. No trial, no justice. Just jail. They tell me
that it is some case under POTA. I do not know what it means. All
those years, I have not been able to know what it is. I do a measly
job for Rs. 300 in a month on which I and my daughters cannot
survive and I make a living by begging. Can you strike down what is
called POTA? Can you please get my son back?” Amidst hiccups and
sobs, this wail of Bibi Khatun, the middle-aged widowed mother of
three sons –Shamsher Khan, Siddique Khan and Nasir Khan, detained
under POTA in Godhra, Gujarat, put every one to tears at the plenary
session of the People’s Tribunal at Hyderabad last week. Social and
community activist Asghar Ali Engineer, sitting as part of the jury,
could not hide his tears listening to the testimony.
Young Muslims
have been arrested from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Orissa, Assam,
Gujarat, on the border and shown to be detained in Lucknow, so as to
buttress the argument that the capital of Uttar Pradesh is the
terror capital of India, said Mohammad Shoaib, the lawyer from Uttar
Pradesh who was forcefully not allowed to defend Muslims, because
the members of the Bar Association of this city owing allegiance to
Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal had passed unanimous
resolutions baying for the blood of those who would defend “enemies
of India”.
 The nondescript
auditorium of the Urdu Daily newspaper Siyasat, in the heart of the
old city of
Hyderabad was
the scene of emotions and facts crying for justice. Emotions and
facts that normally do not see the light of the day. Sentiments of
pain and anguish have no meaning for a heartless state. They don’t
mean much for the media, unless of course you are an Arushi where an
entire spin of conjecture is possible to report. Otherwise harsh
and cold facts do not make good copy, nor does it make sensational
headlines on television.
The audience
comprised of victims, their families and friends, reporters who
write about causes and concerns, rather than dishing out the press
release of the police department, jurists and human rights activists
–the kind of people that are left in this country to pour over the
worries and anxieties of the common man, the rest are engaged in
pursuing the nouveau-riche dream of money and more money, a bigger
house, a bigger car and a bigger holiday.
The galaxy of
legal luminaries from jurists to civil liberties activities from all
over the country comprised the jury and provided the temporary
succour and solace to the victims and their families. Their very
presence provided that feeling, as the dark alley through which they
have had to go knows no support.
 As expected, the
media was there in large numbers –print and satellite. And exactly
as expected, not much was reported in the papers.
True facts are
not sufficient material for the modern day journalist, editors and
media owners who are engaged in a dialogue with only those with whom
they share their interests and biases. Others don’t matter.
Prior to the
beginning of the public trial, participants at the meet witnessed a
small photo exhibition on journalist Iftikhar Gilani, who had to
spend harrowing months in Tihar jail, on trumped up charges.
With the Supreme
Court adjudicating upon the ban on SIMI, the otherwise “bold” media
did not want to take a risk. It could not afford to annoy the
highest court of the land. It would much rather suppress facts,
downplay the whole function as a non-happening, as something which
is only a state-dubbed “support for terrorists by so-called human
rights activists”.
The media like
the state has mastered the art of “turning a blind eye”. The
shriller the cry, the more muted the response. The beating up of
lawyers, who are otherwise called friends of the court, the inhuman
torture in a country whose law ministry and home officials regularly
depose before UN sub-commissions that “there is no torture in
India”, the media trial of Muslim professionals on the basis of
conjecture and whim of the sub-inspector of the police station in
whose jurisdiction a violent act has happened –all this is not news
for the media and the burgeoning new class of Indians for whom every
thing is measured in terms of Sensex, Gold prices, land acquisition
and inflation parameters.
The message at
the people’s meet was loud and clear. Advocate Shoaib Mohammad said
that he would rather be a martyr than give up the right to defend
those accused, who are invariably Muslims.
Inspite of the
terror let loose by governments of
Maharashtra,
Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in pressurizing victims and their
families against deposition, over 40 individuals deposed before the
jury with detailed accounts and thorough documentation. Speaking
for the various human rights organizations that had made the
People’s Tribunal possible, Colin Gonsalves said that “from the
Delhi
of November 1984 to Mumbai to
Gujarat,
minorities have seen death and destruction on an unprecedented
scale”. “For humanity to survive and for justice to prevail, “it is
important that we speak up without fear, with hope that someday
somebody will listen”.
 The interim
report of the Tribunal has emphasized that a large number of
innocent young Muslims have been or are being victimized by the
police on charges of terrorism in gross violation of law. The
police, intelligence agencies and even judiciary are constantly
compromising civil liberties and constitutional rights all over
India.
Innocent people are being arrested, illegally detained, tortured and
forced to confess complicity in terrorist acts with which they have
no connection whatsoever. It seems that the Indian state has become
an apparatus that willfully ignores the basic human rights of
minorities in the country.
At the
conclusion of the tribunal hearings, the organizers reiterated that
we need to remove the shadow of fear and distrust.
"Lot
of boys have not come because the police went to their houses and
said terrorized them against deposition” said Zaheeruddin Ali Khan,
Managing Editor, Siasat.
"There is a growing communalisation of minds in India. It is not
confined just to the police, but in the judiciary, bureaucracy,
there is a hatred building up against the minorities," said Shabnam
Hashmi, a social activist.
Leading lawyer
Prashant Bhushan said the media had forgotten its basic duty of
subjecting the police statements to scrutiny to find out the truth.
“Unfortunately the media too uncritically publicises the charges and
allegations levelled by the police” he said.
Civil rights
leader K G Kannabiran said that suppressing the minority community
would not put an end to terror. "The police committed excesses
against rural youths in the State branding those extremists and
killed many of them in fake encounters. But Naxalism has survived,"
he pointed out.
Retired justice Sardar Ali Khan observed that an "undeclared
Emergency" had been imposed on the Muslim community. "People from
the community are being tortured in the name of investigation. They
must be compensated for the trauma they have undergone," he said.
The People’s
Tribunal at
Hyderabad set
the path to ensure that the shrinking space for democracy in the
country gets a breather and a new lease of life.
27 August, 2008
|
Read Also
