What happened in the northeast Delhi cannot be called clashes between two groups or communal riots– Jamaat
India Tomorrow
NEW DELHI, MARCH 07— Large-scale violence was orchestrated and over 50 people were killed and thousands rendered homeless in northeast Delhi, just a few kilometres from Prime Minister’s office and residence, but neither the PM nor the Chief Minister have yet visited the affected areas; this is very shocking and shameful, said Jamaat-e-Islami Hind here on Saturday.
“Over 50 people have been killed and hundreds injured and hundreds of homes, shops were looted and torched and thousands of people became homeless. This all happened just a few kilometres from the PMO. It is very shocking and shameful that Prime Minister and Chief Minister are not yet visiting the affected people,” said Jamaat’s national president Syed Sadatullah Hussaini.
Around two weeks have passed since the violence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has neither condemned the violence nor condoled the deaths. Three days after the violence, PM had posted a tweet in which he had appealed to people “to maintain peace and brotherhood.”
Addressing its monthly press conference, Jamaat chief demanded a high-level probe by the Delhi Minorities Commission because, he said, there are several allegations about passive or active involvement of police personnel also in the three-day long violence, and therefore only SIT probe is not sufficient.
To a question about the genesis of the violence, Jamaat leader said: “It is everyone’s democratic right to protest. It is very disturbing that road blockade due to the protest (against Citizenship Amendment Act) is being linked to riot and violence. How can rioters be allowed to take law into their hand and kill people?”
Without naming any party or group, he held responsible for the violence those who have been spreading hatred and communal harmony in the society.
He also stressed that “the violence should be properly probed” and there must be “difference between attackers and defenders.”
When asked what could be the motive behind the violence, Jamaat chief said: “To suppress voices being raised against government and communalization of society for electoral gains could be the motives.”
Since the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed by the Parliament on December 11 last year, there have been massive nationwide protests against it and government’s move to conduct exercise for updation of National Population Register (NPR) and National Register of Citizens (NRC). At several places including Shaheen Bagh in South Delhi and some other places in northeast Delhi, hundreds of people, mostly women, held round-the-clock protest sit-in. Rather than engaging with the protesters, several leaders of the ruling BJP took aggressive approach towards the protests – some of them even gave provocative and inflammatory speeches for which they were even banned by the Election Commission during the last month’s Delhi Assembly polls.
The violence erupted as clashes between pro- and anti-CAA protesters in several parts of northeast Delhi on Feb 23 afternoon, hours after BJP leader Kapil Mishra’s threatening ultimatum to police to clear the roads of the anti-CAA protest. But for the next full two days large-scale violence took place in around one dozen localities of the northeast Delhi.
Addressing the press conference, Jamaat’s Vice President Mohammad Salim Engineer said that what happened in the northeast Delhi “cannot be called clashes between two groups or communal riots. It was a planned attack and rioters were trained.”
He also demanded action against those who instigated the violence.
“The government and police have not taken any action against those who instigated the violence. The central government (which controls the Delhi Police) did not act to stop the violence. Police were not allowed to work freely or pressure was put on them to enable the rioters to carry the attacks,” said Salim Engineer.
Jamaat leaders lauded the fact that in many cases, members of the Hindu community saved the lives of Muslims and vice versa. “This also endorses the opinion that it was not a local riot but orchestrated and executed by outsider.”
PM Must Announce Rs 1000 Crore for Rehabilitation of Victims
Jamaat has made the following demands:
— Enquiry under the Delhi Minorities Commission
— Immediate arrest of politicians responsible for provoking violence
— PM must visit relief camps
— PM must announce Rs 100 crore as ex-gratia for relief camps and Rs 1000 crore for rehabilitation of the victims
— Delhi Police should release list of those detained/arrested
— Delhi Police must take action against their own officers for indulging in atrocities on innocent citizens.
Relief Work for Victims
Within days of the northeast Delhi violence, volunteers of Jamaat had started helping the victims, said Jamaat leaders.
They have distributed thousands of food kits and cooked food packets among victims. The volunteers rescued 30 injured persons and got them admitted at Al Shifa hospital, run by sister organization of Jamaat in Jamia Nagar in South Delhi. Most of them were treated free of cost.
Legal volunteers of Jamaat are also working to help the victims to get monetary relief from the state government.
The state government of Aam Aadmi Party has announced various relief measures in the last one week. The government has announced that family of each deceased will get Rs 10 lakh – Rs 1 lakh as ex-gratia and Rs 9 lakh after completion of paper works; Rs 5 lakh for minor deceased; Rs 5 lakh one rendered permanently disabled; Rs 2 lakh for seriously injured.
The Delhi government has also announced Rs 5 lakh for each floor of fully damaged house – Rs 4 lakh for structure and Rs 1 lakh for belongings. For every partially damaged floor of a house, the government would pay Rs 2.5 lakh – Rs 2 lakh for structure and Rs 50,000 for belongings.
