Islamic organisations concerned over politicization of Qureshi case

[email protected] (CD Network | Sirajuddin Nadvi)
April 19, 2017

Mangaluru, Apr 19: Even as preparations are afoot for the ‘Mangaluru Chalo’, a protest meet against the alleged police atrocity on Ahmed Qureshi, an accused in multiple criminal cases, several Islamic scholars belonging to various organisations have expressed concern over the politicisation of the case.

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Former Mangaluru Mayor K?Ashraf, who is also the convener of the United Muslim Front, has claimed that over 60 organisations have extended their support for the protest meet scheduled to be held on May 2 at Nehru Maidan in the heart of the city.

However, prominent leaders of Muslim Central Committee, the official umbrella body of Muslim organisations from Dakhsina Kannada and Udupi districts, have opposed the planned event and called it a politically motivated move.

The local units of major Islamic organisations such as SKSSF, SSF, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Khazis of Mangaluru, Ullal and Udupi too have refrained from endorsing the agitation.

Activist gets threat calls

Meanwhile, Umar U H, a social activist, has reportedly received several threat calls after he questioned the real intention behind the ongoing campaign against Mangaluru police.

Mr Umar, who is also the president of a city-based Muslim literary association, says that even though the government has ordered a CID inquiry into the case of alleged police atrocity, a section of people are trying to get political mileage. “The ‘justice for Qureshi’ campaign has turned into a movement against U T Khader and B Ramanath Rai, the two prominent ministers from Dakshina Kannada district,” he laments, while pointing out that Qureshi doesn’t hail from the constituencies of the above two ministers.

“Qureshi is an accused. I am aware that he was reportedly tortured. However, using this case to target someone who they don’t like and trying to gain political benefits is a matter of shame,” says Mr Umar.

Claims and allegations

Ahmed Qureshi (25), a resident of Katipalla, was produced before the magistrate on March 27 by the police, who claimed that he was arrested on March 26 in connection with an attempt to murder case. Qureshi had stated that the injury marks on his body were the result of a road accident.

However, later Qureshi claimed that he was actually picked by the police on March 21 and that he was brutally tortured in the illegal confinement. He also claimed that the police had forced him to give false statement about his injuries by threatening to implicate him in unsolved Karthik Raj murder case.

According to police, Qureshi is an accused in two attempt-to-murder cases — attack on Sudarshan in Surathkal (2014) and attack on Prakash Poojary in Jokatte (2016) — apart from other cases.

The issue of alleged atrocity on Qureshi snowballed into a major controversy after the police canned the activists of PFI when they staged a protest in front of the office of police commissioner in Mangaluru on April 4. Apart from demanding action against those who tortured Qureshi, the protesters had also warned the police against arresting Khader Kulai, a local leader of PFI, who is also an accused in an attempt to murder case.

Community dragged into controversy?

Meanwhile, many Islamic scholars have expressed displeasure over attempts to turn the issue of police atrocity on an accused into a conflict between Muslims and police department.

“Custodial torture is condemnable. At the same time, the attempt to throw the entire community’s weight behind an accused in two murder attempt cases is also condemnable. If Qureshi is innocent, they should fight for him legally instead of blowing the issue out of proportion” said a cleric, on condition of anonymity.

“When you glorify an uneducated person with criminal background just because he belongs to your religion, you actually defame your religion. This religion has produced thousands of great scholars, thinkers and scientists. They should be your role models and not uneducated people,” said another cleric.

Stating that insulting police and using foul words against them is a non-Islamic act, an Islamic scholar said that religion advises people to be kind to all. “Quran teaches us that the God had asked Prophet Moses (a) to speak gently even with Pharaoh, the worst tyrant in the history of mankind. If one follows Quran, he cannot be rude with anyone. Then, how can we consider entire police department as our enemy? They are also human beings like us. You can find good and bad elements everywhere,” he said, adding that Prophet Muhammad(s) had exhorted the Muslims not to be communal and suspicious. 

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News Network
March 17,2024

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Beltangady, Mar 17: A three-year-old boy was crushed to death under the wheels of an auto-rickshaw in front of his house at Panakaje Mundadi in Belthangady taluk of Dakshina Kannada. 

The gut-wrenching tragedy took place on Saturday, March 16 morning when the boy ran out of home to the road. 

The victim has been identified as Kaushik, the son of Chandrashekhar and Usha couple. Their home is situated adjacent to the main road at Panakaje.

It is learnt that the auto-rickshaw failed to notice the boy who suddenly darted towards the road and hit him. 

Even though the injured boy was rushed to a private hospital in Ujire and later to Mangaluru, he breathed his last. 

The Beltangady traffic police have registered a case in connection with the incident.

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News Network
March 25,2024

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Bengaluru, Mar 25: Former Karnataka Minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy on Monday rejoined the BJP ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Gangavati MLA, who is an accused in an illegal mining case, had formed the 'Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha' (KRPP) ahead of the state assembly polls last year, snapping his two-decade-old association with the BJP.

Reddy today merged his KRPP with the BJP as he, along with wife Aruna Lakshmi and some family members, joined the party in the presence of its veteran leader and former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, state President B Y Vijayendra, and others.

Reddy had recently met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

However, in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls he had extended support to the Congress candidate.

Calling it a "home coming", Reddy explained that the move to merge KRPP with the BJP is to "make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister a third time".

"Amit Shah had invited me to Delhi and told me that -- there is no question of extending outside support (KRPP supporting BJP in LS polls) and instead I should join the BJP and work for it, as I took my political birth in the party. Accepting it, I'm joining the party," he said.

Praising Yediyurappa and the leader's contribution in his political growth, Reddy said he is happy that he will be working in the party now with the veteran leader's son Vijayendra.

"I will work as a common party worker along with other leaders under the leadership of Vijayendra. I have not come with any conditions or expectations. Whatever responsibility the party gives me, I will honestly work.

"BJP was always there in my blood, but due to some reasons I had gone out, but today I feel I have come back to my mother's lap. Looking at my brothers here, I don't feel like I'm coming back to the BJP office after 13 years," he added.

Welcoming Reddy back into the party, Vijayendra said his joining will strengthen BJP in the Kalyana Karnataka region.

"Liking Narendra Modi's leadership and accepting BJP's ideology, Reddy has rejoined the party. Reddy has said that Karnataka should have a larger contribution in making Modi PM once again -- to ensure that BJP and JD(S) alliance win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in the state, he is merging his KRPP with BJP and is joining the party," he said.

Before the assembly polls last year, Reddy had been largely politically inactive for nearly 12 years since his arrest by the CBI for an alleged role in a mining scam. During this period, he had a brief stint ahead of the 2018 assembly polls when he campaigned for his close friend and former Minister B Sriramulu in Molakalmuru Assembly segment.

In the run up to the 2018 assembly polls, the then BJP national president Amit Shah, in response to a reporter's question, had distanced the party from him and stressed that "the BJP has nothing to do with Janardhana Reddy." Accused in a multi-crore illegal mining case, he has been out on bail since 2015. Several conditions were imposed by the top court in its order which includes prohibiting him from visiting Ballari in Karnataka and Ananthpur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.

Because of these restrictions, he had to contest the 2023 Assembly polls from Gangavati in Koppal district.

Expressing his displeasure about the way BJP had ignored him, Reddy had announced a new party last year and also took a dig at his brothers -- Karunakara Reddy and Somashekar Reddy -- and Sriramulu, as they remained with the BJP.

The three of them had unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls, with Reddy's new party said to have impacted their performance in the election.

Sriramulu, a ST community leader and former Minister is now the BJP's candidate from the Bellary (Ballari) Lok Sabha constituency.

Reddy had played an instrumental role in strengthening the BJP in the Ballari district and is still believed to enjoy a considerable clout there as well as in adjoining districts like Chitradurga, Koppal and Raichur, which could be useful for the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls.

Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, managing director of Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC), were arrested by the CBI on September 5, 2011.

The company is accused of changing mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Ballari Reserve Forest area, spread over Ballari in Karnataka and the Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Reddy first came to political limelight during the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, when he campaigned for BJP leader, the late Sushma Swaraj, who had contested against Congress' Sonia Gandhi from Ballari.

Former Congress Minister T John's son Thomas John also joined the BJP today.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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At least seven people have been killed when Israeli warplanes bombed an emergency center in southern Lebanon near the border with the 1948 Israeli-occupied territories with air-to-surface missiles, according to Lebanese security sources.

Two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity said early on Wednesday that the strike targeted the Islamic Group’s emergency and relief center in Lebanon’s southern village of Habbariyeh.

Jamaa Islamiya, a Lebanese group closely linked to the Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, said in a statement that “a number” of people had been killed, and called the strike a “heinous crime.”

An official from the group said “seven rescuers” were killed in the aerial assault.

Another Jamaa Islamiya official, also requesting anonymity, said a dozen medical staff were in the emergency center at the time of the strike, adding that bodies were being pulled from the rubble.

Lebanese lawmaker Hassan Mrad said “the Israeli aggression on Habbariyeh adds to the long list of Israeli crimes.”

Israel has been launching air strikes against Lebanon since the beginning of its onslaught against the Gaza Strip in early October.

An Israeli strike knocked down part of a building in the southern Lebanese city of Nabatiyeh on February 14, killing seven members of the same family, including a child, Lebanon’s official National News Agency said. A boy initially reported missing was found alive under the rubble.

In a separate Israeli attack, a woman and her two children were killed in the village of as-Sawana in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli regime launched its devastating hostilities in the Gaza Strip on October 7 after the territory’s Hamas-led Palestinian resistance groups carried out a surprise retaliatory attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Storm, against the occupying entity.

Israel's raids have resulted in retaliatory strikes from Hezbollah in support of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.

The movement has vowed to keep up its retaliatory operations as long as the Tel Aviv regime continues its onslaught on Gaza.

The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed at least 32,414 people, most of them women and children. Another 74,787 individuals have also been wounded.

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