And a majority of people in the area have accused the cops of staging encounters and claim that these are only attempts to shoot innocent people
NEW DELHI: In the past four years, residents of the congested Muslim locality bordering the historic Jamia Milia Islamia University have seen at least three encounters and a communal clash. And a majority of people in the area have accused the cops of staging encounters and claim that these are only attempts to shoot innocent people, all in the name of tackling terrorism.
Locals claimed that in the wee hours of Friday they saw policemen patrolling the area. “The cops also took some people into the building where they were encountered later in the day,” said Zubair, a resident of the area.
The police have been callous as they did not bother to forewarn the residents.
“Logically, the police should have covered the entire building,” said a professor, who lives in the back lane of the building where the alleged encounter took place. “I heard gunshots at around 10.30am, but there was no cross firing and no policemen in the back lane,” he told DNA.
Some even claim that the encounter was merely a face-saving measure for the Delhi police, as they had not made any major breakthrough in the September 13 serial bombings case in Delhi.
“The easiest thing for cops who conduct probes in blast cases is to kill Muslims and tag them as terrorists. If they knew terrorists were living in a certain building, why did they risk the lives of others living in the area? I visited the building after the encounter to meet a family friend but there were no signs of the police forcefully entering into the house.
Does this imply that the so-called terrorists welcomed the cops into the flat to conveniently get killed?” said Mohammed Farhan Khan, a shop owner who lives near the encounter site.
Ikram-ur-Rehman (31), a software engineer said, “This is the fourth consecutive Ramadan during which our area has been targetted by cops.
In 2007, there were communal clashes after cops allegedly misbehaved with an elderly person when he returned from the mosque. The police arrested 60 young men from the area. The cases are still on.”
Locals also claim the police and the administration are trying to destabilise the area. They are trying to tag it as “breeding ground” for terrorists simply “because its residents are doing well for themselves and have become economically independent,” said Adil Saifi, who has a shop in Noida.
v_gyan@dnaindia.net
y_puneet@dnaindia.net
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}