Thaindian News

Lucknow, Feb 17 (IANS) Members of the Ulema Council (a body of Muslim clerics) will hold a rally here Feb 20 to protest alleged harassment of the minority community by the police on the pretext of tackling terror.
Ulema Council, which has been demanding a CBI and a judicial enquiry into the Batla House shootout in New Delhi, will converge here at the mini-stadium in Vikas Nagar locality, where the rally would take place.

“Thousands of Muslims from different parts of the country will assemble at the mini- stadium to register their protest,” national general secretary of the Ulema Council Mohammad Tahir Madni told reporters Wednesday in Azamgarh, around 300 km from Lucknow.

“Muslim youth, particularly from the Azamgarh district are being falsely implicated in terror attacks… enough is enough… we will not tolerate it any more,” he said.

Significantly, two alleged Indian Mujahideen (IM) operatives Atif and Chhota Sajid, who were killed in September 2008 by the police during the Batla House shootout in New Delhi, were residents of Sanjarpur town in Azamgarh.

Moreover, Shahzad Ahmad, another youth from Azamgarh was arrested Feb 1, 2010, for his alleged involvement in the September 2008 serial bomb blasts in Delhi. According to police, Ahmad had planned terror strikes in Madhya Pradesh and at educational institutions in several parts of the country.

“We will continue to hold demonstrations across the country till the government orders a probe into the Batla House encounter,” said Madni.

“We will not let our youth be targeted unnecessarily by Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) sleuths or police in the name of combating terror. We know how to fight for our rights and will continue to do so till our demands are met,” he added.