What It Means to Be a Muslim in India Today, a collection of testimonies of victims of the anti-terror hunt by government agencies was released on Saturday.
What It Means to Be a Muslim in India Today, a collection of testimonies of victims of the anti-terror hunt by government agencies that was released on Saturday, describes the fear and despair of many Muslims regarding illegal detention, biased investigation and extra-judicial killings.
Published by New Delhi-based ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy), the report compiles statements collected in 2008 by the People’s Tribunal on the Atrocities Committed Against the Minorities in the Name of Fighting Terrorism, in Hyderabad and the National Meet on the Status of Muslims in Contemporary India, in Delhi in 2009.
During the book’s release, Shabnam Hashmi of ANHAD said that when they were holding the tribunal in Hyderabad, government agencies tried to get members of the jury to quit the tribunal. The report contains the stories of nearly 40 people who described the terror and intimidation they faced while being detained in terror cases. She said that after the tribunal was held, there were fewer cases of young people being detained by the police after terror incidents. “I was told that after every terror blast, 600 or more people would be rounded up. That has stopped now,” she said.
The defamation of largely Muslim-inhabited towns — another consequence of the anti-terror hunt — was also discussed at the meeting. Maulana Abdul Hameed Azhari, a Malegaon cleric said that the town has rarely seen Hindu-Muslim riots. “What has been described as riots are clashes between the locals and police,” said Azhari who has been working to free the local youths held for blasts despite right-wing Hindu groups being responsible. “The government knows they are innocent, but it is not releasing them,” he added.
The second part consists of the testimonies of 150 Muslims who faced discrimination while seeking employment, education and also their experience with the police, courts and government. Mohammad Hilal, an activist from Gujarat who helps minority groups to access government welfare funds, said that unless the community fought in the courts and through civil society, government schemes will continue to elude them.
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