‘Terror perception needs to change’

There is a worry that with national investigation agencies concentrating on the huge telecom and Commonwealth Games scams, the spotlight could move away from terror cases, particularly those where Hindutva groups are involved.
This fear was raised by speakers at the national convention of Anhad, a human rights group, at the Islam Gymkhana on Saturday.

Speaker Harsh Mander said that because of the perception that Muslims are responsible for all terrorism, poor Muslim youth are facing state terror. "In ordinary law, you are not guilty until proven. If you are a young Muslim, you are guilty till proven otherwise. The onus is on the individual to prove he is not a terrorist," said Mander.

Speakers from states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa described the communal situation in their states. One speaker suggested that Hindutva terror groups could be financed by opium cultivation in Madhya Pradesh in the same way the Taliban is funded by the drug trade out of Afghanistan.

He said advocates in some district courts were refusing to argue cases of Muslims named in terror cases and that there was a proposal to rename towns with Muslim names — like Narmadapur for Hoshangabad.

Director Mahesh Bhatt rejected a statement made by a speaker that India was a fascist state. "A fascist state does not allow people to express their views freely, as the speakers at the meeting had done," he said.