Welfare Party on saffron terror: hopes serious action follows

New Delhi, 23 January 2013: The Welfare Party of India held here a press conference at the Delhi Press Club. Party Vice Presidents Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan and Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji, General Secretary Dr SQR Ilyas and Secretary Dr Taslim Tahmani addressed the press conference and stressed that while the party welcomes Mr Sushil Shinde, Union Home Minister’s statement regarding the saffron terror, it remains to be seen if the Union government will show seriousness in prosecuting and arresting dozens of known saffron terrorists and their financiers and sympathisers. Much is known about this network since 2008 when it was exposed by the then Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare. If no serious action follows, people will be constrained to take it as an electoral gimmick. WPI leaders demanded the release of the Muslim youths incarcerated in cases which are now conclusively held to be part of the saffron terror. They also demanded reasonable compesnation to all those falsely accused who were acquitted by courts after years of unjust incarceration. Following is the press release issued on the occasion: New Delhi, 23 Janurary, 2013: The Welfare Party of India takes serious note of the statement made by Union Home Minister Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde at the Jaipur “chintan shibir” of the Indian National Congress that Sangh Parivar outfits were committing terrorism while putting the blame on minorities. Mr Shinde’s statement and his specific reference to the Samjhauta Express, Mecca Masjid and Malegaon blasts has been further corroborated by the Union Home Secretary Mr R.K. Singh while interacting with journalists in New Delhi on 22 January. The disclosures made by a senior Union Minister and the top bureaucrat of the Union Home Department surprised none as human rights groups, minority organizations and many political parties including the Left have been drawing the attention of the Union government for long to the “false flag” Hindutva terrorism which became crystal clear after the confessional statement of Swami Aseemanand who is currently under judicial custody in the Mecca Masjid blast case. What Mr. Shinde said is nothing more than the gist of the findings of the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in 2008 under the veteran Police Officer Hemant Karkare, who was mysteriously killed during the Mumbai terror attack. What surprises many peace-loving, patriotic and law-abiding citizens of the country is: why the governments at the Centre and states are reluctant in taking correct, logical and strict actions against these elements even after so much information is in the public domain and in court records about these outfits’ terror activities. Why top Hindutva brass like Indresh Kumar and Praveen Togadia, mentioned in the Malegaon and Ajmer chargesheets, have not been summoned and questioned so far? Why searches still not made at Bonsala Military School in Nasik and Pune and Aakanksha Resort of Pune where saffron terrorists in their thousands were trained in making and exploding bombs? Why outfits like Abhinav Bharat, Sanatan Sanstha, Ram Sena, Hindu Vahini, Arya Sena and scores of Sangh outfits mentioned by the accused have not been touched? Welfare Party of India express its displeasure on the way Home minister announced this serious National Security Issue in the party shiver rather than convening an official press conference at his office and strongly demands the Union Government to constitute a high power commission to probe all terror cases since BJP came to power in states then at the Centre and bring out a white paper about all terror incidents and encounters in the recent past. Such a high-level probe is necessary to uncover the details of this terror network which was active in a very clever way so as both victims and accused were Muslims. Such a probe is also necessary in the light of serious disclosures made by the accused in the Malegaon blast to the CBI that Hindutva terrorists including named RSS functionaries had links with ISI, the Pakistani military spy organisation, and received funds from it. It is disappointing to note from the “clarifications” made by the party spokesman that the Congress Party instead of demonstrating a sincere and strong political will is succumbing to the pressure tactics of the Sangh outfits and is again resorting to the Soft Hindutva game it has played since 1980s. The Welfare Party wants to make it clear that it is the lethargic and spineless stand of the century-old grand party that gave the Hindutva forces political space in the country. We hope Mr. Shinde’s statement is not another political gimmick to garner votes in the forthcoming assembly and Lok Sabha elections. The Welfare Party expresses its severe disappointment that many innocent Muslim youths had to languish in jails for years on trumped up charges and on the basis of fake confessions extracted through torture. It is right time to revamp our inefficient and communalized Police and investigating agencies with a view to detoxify them and purge them from the clutches of biased personnel. The Welfare Party strongly demands adequate compensation to all the youths acquitted by courts after spending long years behind bars, asks the government to issue a public apology on behalf of the nation for the injustices committed against these innocent victims and to set up fast track courts for those who are still in jails, on the lines of courts constituted to deal with sexual assault cases. And before anything else, all Muslims youths still incarcerated for terror crimes now attributed to the Hindutva terrorists should be set free forthwith. Press conference attended by: Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Vice President Maulana Abdul Wahab Khilji, Vice President Dr. S.Q.R. Ilyas, General Secretary Dr. Tasleem Rahmani , Secretary -The Milli Gazette Online