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PuneMirror
MIM PIGGYBACKS ON MALEGAON ‘TORMENT’
By Vijay Chavan, Pune Mirror | May 12, 2016, 02.30 AM IST
Before civic poll, party invites newly-discharged accused to narrate their ordeals at the hands of investigating agencies; eyes Dalit alliance as well
The city unit of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has grand plans to felicitate the Malegaon blasts' accused — who were discharged this April owing to lack of evidence — as a possible poll plank eyeing the city municipal election. A ceremony at Nehru Memorial Hall in Camp on Saturday will have them narrating the ordeals faced by them during the past ten years by investigating agencies.
On Wednesday, senior MIM leader and president of Mulnivasi Muslim Manch Anjum Inamdar confirmed the development to Pune Mirror, insisting, "We do not have any political motive, but just want to convey a message to the nation that Muslims are not born terrorists; another hue of terrorism also exists. People from Pune would like to know the facts behind the conspiracy. During these ten years, family members of all these people were boycotted and sisters of many had remained unmarried. Who will pay for the destroyed past and future of these men?"
MIM, Mulnivasi Muslim Manch and Republican Yuva Morcha, youth wing of the Republican Party of India, will be jointly hosting the discharged men — Noorul Huda, Raees Ahmed, Salman Farsi, Farogh Magdumi, Mohammed Zahid and Abrar Ahmed. Two others, Shaikh Mohammed Ali and Asif Khan, will not be able to attend as they have been convicted in the 7/11 train blasts case and are still in prison. They are reportedly going to demand an apology from the earlier Congress government in the state for their torments, akin to the apology for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Ten years after the arrest and two years after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had told the court that it had no evidence against them, a sessions court discharged them of all the terror charges in the case last month. One of the discharged men, who did not wish to be named, told Mirror, "The previous government cannot bring back our precious 10 years with money. But, there will be some damage control if it tenders its apology for implicating us in the Malegaon triple blasts case by fabricating evidence."
Retired state inspector general S M Mushrif, former high court judge B G Kolse-Patil and advocate Abdul Wahab, who represented the accused in the blasts case, are among those likely to attend the ceremony. The gathering is also an indicator of the possible alliance with the Dalit parties in the 2019 Assembly election in Pune and Pimpri -Chinchwad and may be MIM's bid to use atrocities against Muslim youths and their alleged implication in terror-related cases as a trump card for the poll.
However, Republican Yuva Morcha president Rahul Dambale stressed that it was not a poll strategy, clarifying, "Pune is the place from where the conspiracy of the blast was hatched. Many prominent citizens were interrogated as suspects, but nothing had transpired. Innocent Muslims or Dalits are increasingly being implicated in fake cases. This gathering is just to reveal the truth behind the Malegaon blast conspiracy."
The city unit of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) has grand plans to felicitate the Malegaon blasts' accused — who were discharged this April owing to lack of evidence — as a possible poll plank eyeing the city municipal election. A ceremony at Nehru Memorial Hall in Camp on Saturday will have them narrating the ordeals faced by them during the past ten years by investigating agencies.
On Wednesday, senior MIM leader and president of Mulnivasi Muslim Manch Anjum Inamdar confirmed the development to Pune Mirror, insisting, "We do not have any political motive, but just want to convey a message to the nation that Muslims are not born terrorists; another hue of terrorism also exists. People from Pune would like to know the facts behind the conspiracy. During these ten years, family members of all these people were boycotted and sisters of many had remained unmarried. Who will pay for the destroyed past and future of these men?"
MIM, Mulnivasi Muslim Manch and Republican Yuva Morcha, youth wing of the Republican Party of India, will be jointly hosting the discharged men — Noorul Huda, Raees Ahmed, Salman Farsi, Farogh Magdumi, Mohammed Zahid and Abrar Ahmed. Two others, Shaikh Mohammed Ali and Asif Khan, will not be able to attend as they have been convicted in the 7/11 train blasts case and are still in prison. They are reportedly going to demand an apology from the earlier Congress government in the state for their torments, akin to the apology for the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
Ten years after the arrest and two years after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had told the court that it had no evidence against them, a sessions court discharged them of all the terror charges in the case last month. One of the discharged men, who did not wish to be named, told Mirror, "The previous government cannot bring back our precious 10 years with money. But, there will be some damage control if it tenders its apology for implicating us in the Malegaon triple blasts case by fabricating evidence."
Retired state inspector general S M Mushrif, former high court judge B G Kolse-Patil and advocate Abdul Wahab, who represented the accused in the blasts case, are among those likely to attend the ceremony. The gathering is also an indicator of the possible alliance with the Dalit parties in the 2019 Assembly election in Pune and Pimpri -Chinchwad and may be MIM's bid to use atrocities against Muslim youths and their alleged implication in terror-related cases as a trump card for the poll.
However, Republican Yuva Morcha president Rahul Dambale stressed that it was not a poll strategy, clarifying, "Pune is the place from where the conspiracy of the blast was hatched. Many prominent citizens were interrogated as suspects, but nothing had transpired. Innocent Muslims or Dalits are increasingly being implicated in fake cases. This gathering is just to reveal the truth behind the Malegaon blast conspiracy."
