Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Friday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take lead in reaching out to the Muslims of the country.
SRINAGAR: People's Democratic Party (PDP) patron Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Friday appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take lead in reaching out to the Muslims of the country in order to reassure them of dignity and fair application of legal and constitutional safeguards.
"The prime minister must take a lead in reaching out to Muslim masses in order to reassure them of dignity and fair application of legal and constitutional safeguards. And, all right-thinking, secular and democratic forces must join this campaign without reservations," Sayeed said in a statement here.
Commenting on the serial bomb blasts in parts of the country, Jamia Nagar encounter and Nanavati Commission report, Sayeed said the recent events and their aftermath call for immediate intervention to avert a collision of communities in the country.
"We can't fill the jails of the country with young and educated Muslims in the hope of freeing the country of terror," the former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Sayeed said the chain of investigations have unfortunately resulted in casting a shadow on the entire Muslim community of the country. Nobody needs to point out the dangers and pitfalls in allowing this impression to grow, he observed.
"The actions of the police forces of various states in recent weeks, which were occasioned by inhuman targeting of innocent lives, have unfortunately not convinced the civil society of their fairness as is apparent from the media debates on the issue."
"The cynicism caused by these actions has only been further fueled by the report of the Nanavati Commission on the infamous Gujarat riots," he said.
"How could a Commission report give a clean chit for its conduct to any administration that presided over the events in 2002 which shook the conscience of the country?" he wondered.
Sayeed said if the involvement of those who have been accused of carrying out terror attacks is established, it would be necessary to go into the reasons for the phenomenon.
The Sachhar Committee appointed by the prime minister had brought to fore the "pathetic condition" of the country's Muslim community, he claimed.
The former chief minister underscored the need for providing unimpeded legal assistance to the accused in blasts.
Hailing the decision of the Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi for defending the accused students in the court over the Delhi blasts, he said it is unfortunate that defense counsels were threatened and physically prevented from appearing in the court.
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