HOW TO 'CARVE OUT A TERRORIST' FROM AN INNOCENT PERSON
AND SAY IT WORKS
by Subhash Gatade
(Judge: The papers on my table show he is
not Mukhtar. So what is his real name?
Officer: He is actually Aftab Alam Ansari.
Judge: That means you have arrested a
wrong person. How can this horrible blunder take
place?
The officer stayed silent.
Judge: If he is neither Mukhtar nor Raju,
why did not you write that in the petition
clearly? Have you written that? Please underline
that and show it to me.
As the officer began scanning the petition,
he looked puzzled.
Judge: I'm not going to accept this
petition. Please go and make a fresh one.)
Aftab Alam Ansari, an electrician with a power
company in Kolkatta, is finally free. And the
ordeal through which he had to go through as a
'terrorist' is finally over.Recently he met with
the Chief Minister of Bengal to apprise him of
the whole situation and seek help for his
mother's failing health.
It is now history how he was arrested from
Baranagar in Kolkatta on 27th November with
Bengal police's help supposedly for 'ferrying the
entire cache of explosives for the November
blasts in UP'.
It is now revealed that the Special Task Force of
the UP Police had been set on Aftab's trail by a
claim by two arrested militants - Mohamad Khalid
and Tariq Quazmi - that the mastermind of the
court blasts in the state called himself Aftab as
well as Mukhtar, Raju and Bangladeshi. The duo
however, had mentioned no middle name or surname.
Though Aftab is now free, Ayesha Begum - Aftab's
mother has other worries staring in her eyes.
Whether they would be able to live a normal life
and would ever be able to get out of the 'stigma'
attached to the whole operation and Aftab's brief
sojourn in Jail.
It is now clear that Aftab's arrest by the
over enthusiastic UP STF was a case of mistaken
identity as he also hailed from Gorakhpur like
the ringleader of the November blast and also
shared his nickname 'Mukhtar'.
But now that Aftab, a innocent citizen of this
country is free at last, will it be OK to say
that the tragedy which befell Aftab would be the
last one of its kind. And henceforth no Aftab
living on this part of the earth would ever be
traumatised in a similar manner. Looking at the
track record of the Indian police and the bigotry
and sectarianism of the powers that be it would
be dishonesty to make any such grand claim.
In fact the day the news of Aftab's freedom in
jail appeared, one came across the strictures
passed by the Maharashtra high court against the
Maharashtra police's arbitrariness in handling
the Khwaja Yunus case. It is now history how
Khwaja Yunus, a Gulf returned software engineer,
was arrested by the police on December 27, 2002
and booked under the Prevention of Terrorism Act,
in connection with the Ghatkopar blast. On
January 7, 2003 Yunus was found dead amidst
police claims that he had escaped after the
vehicle in which he was being escorted to
Aurangabad had met with an accident. Later it was
revealed that Yunus was tortured to death by some
police officers. After persistent protests by
human rights activists about this custodial death
and struggle for justice launched by Yunus's
mother Aasiya Begum, FIR was lodged against the
guilty policemen. Of course the dillydallying on
part of the Maharashtra government continued
unabated.The highcourt 's query was simple 'Why
were ten top police officers initially named by
CID for their alleged involvment in the custodial
death of Yunus let off ?'
While Aftab is finally a free man, Mohammad
Moarif Qamar and Irshad Ali, two residents of
Delhi seem to be not so lucky even after
languishing in jail for more than two years. Both
of them were victims of well-planned conspiracy
hatched by the Special Cell of the Delhi Police
in collaboration with the intelligence bureau
operatives. CBI found to its dismay that IB
officials colluded with Delhi police personnel to
'plant' RDX on these youths who were arrested as
'Al Badr' terrorists. While Qamar was abducted
from his Bhajanpura residence on Dec 22, 2005
itself ; Irshad Ali had gone missing from his
Sultanpuri home 10 days earlier. Their relatives
had informed the police about their sudden
disappearance. On February 9, 2006 the family
members were told that both had been arrested
with 2 Kg RDX and pistols. It was clear that they
were kept in illegal detention by the special
cell all this while. One can just imagine if the
high courts had not intervened in the case and
directed the CBI to look into the matter, the
'terrorist' label on both these youths would have
stuck to them all their lives.
May it be the case of Aftab or for that matter
Khwaja Yunus, or Mohammad Qamar, Irshad Ali - it
is becoming increasingly clear that framing of
innocents and branding them as terrorist is the
latest norm among lawkeepers of the country.Of
course anyone familiar with the Indian situation
may easily notice the continuity in the rampant
misuse of various laws of detention and
confinement. Post 9/11 a significant change has
occured in the whole process. It is for everyone
to see that Muslims as a community are
increasingly becoming the target of
criminalisation and terrorisation.
To be very frank, in all such cases it is
difficult to differentiate whether the people are
ruled by forces of the 'programmatic communalist
variety ( like the BJP or Shiv Sena) or the
'pragmatic communalists' like Congress.
It then becomes impossible to forget Mohammad
Afroz , who was arrested after 9/11by the Mumbai
police and was charged for planning a terrorist
attack . It was told to the pliant media then
that this 'dreaded terrorist' wanted to crash a
plane piloted by him on the British house of
Commons and Australia. A special team from Mumbai
police especially went to these countries but
could not bring back any evidence. Ultimately it
took the whole charge as a grand fabrication. It
was a time when Maharashtra was ruled by a
Secular front which comprised of parties like
Congress and NCP.
The 'dreaded terrorists' arrested in connection
with the five year old attack on the Raghunath
temple in Jammu also faced similar ordeal.The
courts finally absolved all the accused of any
charges and advised the police to properly use
its minds in handling sensitive cases of such
nature.These innocent people had to languish in
jail for such a long period for no fault of
theirs.
It is worth noting that despite many such fiascos
the powers that be never attempt to draw any
important lesson to avoid recurrence of such
incidents. On the contrary, the whole attempt is
to 'individualise' all such cases and proceed
with the established practice of stigmatisation
and brutalisation of the social and religious
minorities.
It is high time that they are told about the way
the Canadian government handled similar case.
Canadian-Syrian Mahel Arar - a young software
engineer - was seized by CIA operatives during a
stopover at New York in 2002 and was secretly
sent to Syria.Lodged in a grave like cell in
Syria, Arar was repeatedly tortured to extract
information which he did not know. Ultimately his
tormentors released him within a span of year and
half without ever being charged with a crime.
Looking back it is clear that Mahel Arar became a
victim of the Islamophobia manufactured by the
likes of Bush-Blair in the immediate aftermath of
9/11.
Last year Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of
Canada sought public apology for the ordeal which
Maher went through and for the role played by
Canadian officials in the whole affair . The
Canadian government also gave him nine million
dollars as compensation. Mr Harper said in full
public view of the media "On behalf of the
government of Canada, I wish to apologize to you,
Monia Mazigh (Arar's wife) and your family for
any role Canadian officials may have played in
the terrible ordeal that all of you experienced
in 2002 and 2003."
Is anyone listening ?
- subhash gatade, h 4 pusa apts, rohini sector
15, delhi 110085 Ph: 011-27872835
Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur Soye
Dukhia Das Kabir Jagey Aur Roye
The world is 'happy', eating and sleeping
The forlorn Kabir Das is awake and weeping
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