Muslim Delegation Holds Tripura Govt Responsible for Anti-Muslim Violence

NEW DELHI – A Muslim delegation, which visited the areas affected by anti-Muslim communal violence in Tripura, has held the state police and the BJP-led government responsible for allowing the rioters to unleash violence on people.

“A deplorable thing which we found in Tripura is that the police not only remained mute spectators to the violence but also connived with the rioters. They supported them,” said All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat President Navaid Hamid while addressing a press conference at the Press Club of India on Saturday.

Hamid was one of the members of the delegation which visited Tripura on October 31. Other members of the delegation were Mohammad Salim Engineer, Vice President-Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH); Maulana Shafi Madani, JIH National Secretary; Maulana Sheesh Taimi of All India Jamiat Ahle Hadees; Shams Tabrez Qasmi of All India Milli Council; and Nurul Islam Mazarbhuiya, JIH President for Assam (South); and Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO).

“We feel that the police and administration is directly under the state government and so the state government is also responsible for the violence in Tripura. The state government is yet to initiate any major action against those who perpetrated violence. This is highly regrettable,” said the delegation in its report.

According to the report, violence was reported from 4 of the 8 districts of Tripura. Maximum violence happened in Panisagar, Dharam Nagar the district headquarters of North Tripura district. Violence and attacks on mosques and other holy places began from October 19 and continued for 7 days until October 26.

Sixteen mosques were damaged or burned, says the report. “Four mosques were completely burned down, even the copies of the holy Quran were thrown in fire,” said Hamid.

According to the Mushawarat



president, Panisagar was one of the worst affected areas where rallies were taken out without permission and rioters looted shops belonging to Muslims and set them on fire. “Even after looting, arson and unlawful activities, the police did not take action against the rioters,” he said.

The government even failed to give compensation properly to the victims. It gave only 5 or 6 per cent of what the victims lost.

The delegation also lauded the Muslim community for not reacting to the incidents of violence and appreciated the common people who did not take part in rioting.

Salim Engineer lamented that Tripura’s Director General of Police did not meet the delegation. While they were leaving the state, they got a call from the Inspector-General for a meeting. But it was too late as their journey was starting.

The delegation members also sought a meeting with the chief minister but his office failed to arrange one. The state government constantly tried to hide the incidents of violence. They remained in denial mode and kept on repeating that everything was normal. This is a dangerous trend, said Salim.

The delegation demanded action against the erring police officers. They said the police should conduct a departmental enquiry and find out the police officers who are guilty of dereliction of duty. “Action should be initiated against those convicted of these charges and who did not prevent the violence. This action against guilty officers will show that the police is an independent institution and should not be used as a tool to further the agenda of a particular political party,” said the delegation in its report.

The members also asked the government to arrest the culprits behind the dreadful incidents of violence and provide adequate compensation to the victims, repair the mosques that have been vandalized.