Mangaluru, May 2: Speakers at the ‘Mangaluru Chalo’, a protest meet organized at Nehru Maidan in the city on Tuesday in the wake of alleged police atrocity on Ahmed Qureshi, resolved to unitedly fight against the human rights violations and illegal detentions of Muslim youths in Dakshina Kannada.
The protest meet was organized by the Muslim Sanghatanegala Okkoota, Dakshina Kannada (MSO), an unregistered body under the leadership of Congress leader and former Mangaluru Mayor K Ashraf. In fact the event was planned by United Muslim Front (UMF), another unregistered umbrella body of a few Muslim groups. The UMF later decided to postpone the event as the Karnataka government ordered a CID inquiry into allegedly atrocity. However, Ashraf, who was the convener of the UMF, decided to host the event under the banner of MSO. Interestingly, SDPI and PFI were also not part of the event.
The speakers also clarified that their protest was not against the entire police department and the government, but against only those police officers in the department who tend to violate human rights of the individuals and implicate innocent Muslims in false cases and torture them in illegal conferment.
Shafi Saadi, a Bengaluru based cleric, said that the Muslim community’s fight for justice should not be confined to an event like ‘Mangauluru Chalo’. “Instead of seeking justice you should reach a position wherein you can give justice to others. Instead of blaming police and legal system, you have to become police officers, lawyers and judges and treat all human beings equally irrespective of religion and caste. That is what Islam teaches you,” he said.
Dinesh Hegde Ulepady, a senior advocate and human rights activist, said that Ahmed Qureshi is not the first victim of police atrocities in Mangaluru. “But, people of this city should take a decision to make him the last victim of police atrocity,” he added.
“You can find victims of police atrocities in all the communities. But, number of such victims is bigger in Muslim community. Hence, a collective agitation against all kinds of human rights violation committed by the police is the need of the hour,” Mr Ulepady said, urging the government to bring an amendment to the police act to punish the cops who violate human rights.
He also revealed that many innocent Muslims were tortured by the Konaje police in connection with Karthik Raj murder case. “A Muslim youth from Manjeshwar was picked by police and kept in illegal conferment for several days and tortured. The police wanted to fix him in Karthik Raj murder case,” he said.
Presiding over the event, Ashraf said that ‘Mangaluru Chalo’ is an apolitical agitation intended to give justice to victims of Muslim community. “We are not against any party or any particular leader. Most of the people who participated in this event belong to Congress party. I am also a Congress leader. But, for me community first and the party next,” he said.
K S Mohammed Masood, president of Muslim Central Committee inaugurated the event. Kukkila Darimi, Abbas Ucchila, P B D’Sa also spoke on the occasion.
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