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Coping with
fear
Dr. Mohammad Manzoor Alam
 Every day we are
witness to extrajudicial killings through police encounters, deaths
in police custody, torture and involuntary disappearances. Police
officers like Daya Nayak of Mumbai and Director General of Police of
Gujarat, Mr. Vanzara are only two of the hundreds of such police
officers across the country that have got fabulously rich by killing
people, intimidation and extortion. A section of our political
class, along with a large section of the law-keeping machinery has
developed a vested interest in an environment of fear –fear against
unknown enemies who could possibly have a Muslim, Christian, Sikh or
Dalit face.
Their mission is
simple and focused: The ‘unknown enemy’, whoever he is, must be
crushed and to hell with the constitution, due process of law and
common sense. This vested interest and this perverted logic of the
vested interest is clearly geared to garner votes of the majority
community. After all, the majority too has its fears. The corrupt
law and order machinery finds a good cover under this majoritarian
fear, nurtured by the political class, to hide all its excesses,
extra-judicial killings and its extortion racket.
How do we cope
this fear? Let us ask the right questions and seek answers. Are the
three organs of state, the executive, the legislature and the
judiciary contributing their share in creating a just and humane
society through good governance and fair play? Why is it that
lawyers in several districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh are
blatantly denying to represent the accused in respective courts? Why
is it that if an innocent citizen is killed by a lawless police
force, within minutes of the incident, the media goes to town with
concocted stories without verification and in violation of all media
laws?
Why are only
religious minorities, Dalits and tribals subjected to such
ill-treatment by the state that is supposed to be built on
egalitarian and secular principles? Why is Muslim presence in jails
much larger than their share in the population or jobs? A sinister
group of people are pursuing an agenda or targeting Muslims under
the cover of its own brand of ‘anti-terrorism’ campaign. It is
creating an enemy image of Muslims and trying to implicate them in
all kinds of plots, real and imagined. This group thrives on
creating fear and suspicion. The All India Milli Council meet, while
condemning the politics of fear, seeks the release of political
detenues, review of all POTA cases, representation of minorities in
police and investigation agencies and stoppage of harassment of
families of detainees.
The meet decided
to set up a committee to collect data on detentions, investigate
cases of disappearing persons, illegal cremations and unidentified
graves in Punjab and Kashmir respectively. Minorities cannot allow
the label of “terrorism” to be used as a convenient tool for
continuing excesses and illegal practices. To defeat “terrorism” and
to seek justice, we need to reassure ourselves with the words of
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, “There is nothing to fear, but fear
itself.”
(Dr. Manzoor
Alam is the General Secretary and Convenor of the All India Milli
Council)
30
April 2008
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