Rethinking Islam with Sultan Shahin: Muslim forum demands Antulay's resignation

Monday, August 10, 2009

Muslim forum demands Antulay's resignation

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

20 Dec 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com

Muslim forum demands Antulay's resignation

Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD), an organisation of minorities, has expressed its shock over "the highly irresponsible and outrageous statement" of union minister for minorities, AR Antulay, in which he insinuated that there was a conspiracy behind the killing of Hemant Karkare, chief of anti-terrorism squad (ATS)….

The world is convinced on the basis of evidences provided by the Indian government that the terrorists responsible for 26/11 came from Pakistan and belonged to Lashkar-e-Tayiba, a statement signed by Javed Akhtar, Sajid Rashid and Javed Anand, of MSD, said. "That is why there is a demand from governments all over the world that the Pakistan government act firmly and swiftly against the Pakistan-based perpetrators of terror. Not surprisingly, the Pakistan government is dragging its feet claiming it has yet to be shown incontrovertible evidence," the statement said.

It added, "Very surprisingly, and shockingly, Antulay, a minister in the Union cabinet, has similar doubts."

Also: S Ahmed Ali & Mateen Hafeez, TNN, point out: Antulay's allegation not borne out by facts

Photo: A.R.Antulay

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Muslim forum demands Antulay's resignation

Friday, December 19, 2008 01:17 IST

Karkare was killed during the terror attack on November 26, on the lane leading to Cama Hospital from CST station. Antulay hinted that Karkare's killing was the handiwork of Hindu extremist groups in collusion with their sympathisers in the force. Karkare was killed along with additional commissioner of police Ashok Kamte and encounter specialist, Vijay Salaskar.

"This is a malicious and insensitive slander of the Mumbai police and the ATS," said a spokesperson of MSD.

The world is convinced on the basis of evidences provided by the Indian government that the terrorists responsible for 26/11 came from Pakistan and belonged to Lashkar-e-Tayiba, a statement signed by Javed Akhtar, Sajid Rashid and Javed Anand, of MSD, said. "That is why there is a demand from governments all over the world that the Pakistan government act firmly and swiftly against the Pakistan-based perpetrators of terror. Not surprisingly, the Pakistan government is dragging its feet claiming it has yet to be shown incontrovertible evidence," the statement said.

It added, "Very surprisingly, and shockingly, Antulay, a minister in the Union cabinet, has similar doubts."

They said, "Since 26/11, Indian Muslims have joined all fellow-Indians and spoken in one voice denouncing the attack on India in the strongest words. They have unanimously declared that mass murderers cannot be Muslims even if they have Muslim names." Antulay's outrageous statement is a gross violation of the sentiment of national unity and amity, they said.

The statement said Antulay owed an apology to the Mumbai police, to all citizens of India and to Indian Muslims in particular. MSD expected Antulay "to assume responsibility for his outrage and immediately tender his resignation from the Union government".

http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1215230

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Antulay's allegation not borne out by facts

S Ahmed Ali & Mateen Hafeez, TNN

19 Dec 2008, 0415 hrs IST,

MUMBAI: The events of 26/11 night that claimed the lives of three of Mumbai's top cops refute the Union minorities affairs minister A R Antulay's conspiracy theory. Here's what happened that night.

Around 9.45pm, the city police control room flashed a message saying there was a terror attack at CST railway station. Within minutes, the road outside the station was deserted. Not even policemen on duty, most of whom were armed with only lathis, were ready to go to the spot.

Hemant Karkare, then ATS chief, reached CST from his Dadar residence, and donned a helmet and bullet-proof jacket. Additional DGP (Railways) K P Raghuvanshi also joined him. But, while Raghuvanshi stayed back, Karkare, along with his four policemen, first went to the CST station's platform number 1 (opposite Anjuman-e-Islam School) and found it deserted, with no trace of any terrorists.

"A fellow policeman informed them that the terrorists were spotted walking towards (the nearby) Cama Hospital," said city police commissioner Hasan Gafoor. Meanwhile, Karkare received a wireless message, saying, "Additional police commissioner Sadanand Date is injured at Cama Hospital. A bodyguard is seriously injured, while another constable is dead."

Karkare, accompanied by the four constables, made for Cama Hospital, while the Z-security guards were instructed to take position outside the TOI building.

The team moved cautiously towards Cama and tried to get a clear idea of what was happening. "Later, inspector Vijay Salaskar and additional commissioner Ashok Kamte, who met at CST, arrived on the scene. Salaskar was accompanied by five of his subordinates," said Akhtar Shaikh, Kakare's orderly, who was present along with Karkare that night.

"As we headed towards the rear entrance of Cama Hospital, we heard gunshots. Kamte returned the fire, and the terrorists threw a grenade at us, but it fell within the hospital premises," said Shaikh.

Inspector Nitin Alaknure, Salaskar's colleague, said, "Karkare, Kamte and Salaskar were discussing their next step. Kamte then suggested they enter the hospital from the main gate. They got into a police Qualis stationed there, and later, as they approached the special branch, Salaskar took over the driver's seat," Alaknure recalled.

Salaskar ordered his two constables to take position at the rear gate, while Karkare's four constables were assigned to take position at the other gates. "They got a wireless message that the terrorists were hiding behind a red vehicle near Rang Bhavan. They started looking for the red vehicle and suddenly spotted one terrorist, who was later identified as Mohammad Ajmal Kasab. Kamte and Salaskar opened fire," said crime branch chief Rakesh Maria.

The officers were about to get down from the vehicle when all of a sudden, another terrorist showered bullets from his AK-47, injuring all the cops. Kamte and Karkare died on the spot. The terrorists then threw the three policemen out of the car, and hijacked the vehicle. It was Arun Jadhav, the lone survivor, who later informed the control room about the incident.

Meanwhile, police officials across ranks expressed shock over the Union minister's controversial statement. No senior official would come on record to speak out against Antulay's innuendo, indicating how the police brass was scared to respond to a politician's rant.

But officer after officer, off the record, said it was sad to see politicians could stoop so low as to use even a national tragedy for their own political advantage. Though city police commissioner Hasan Gafoor refused to comment, another officer said politicians should be speaking about measures to tackle terrorism insisted of making controversial statements in Parliament.

However, former intelligence chief V N Deshmukh said he had visited the spot where the shootout (which claimed Karkare's and cops' lives) happened. "I spoke to several witnesses and officers. I am convinced it was not a conspiracy," he said.

QnA: Pakistan says the Mumbai terror attack was masterminded by 'Hindu Zionists'. Would you agree?

QnA: Who do you think would reap a good bargain following the ATS chief's death in the recent terror attack in Mumbai, and why?

QnA: Was Karkare just a victim of terror or is there more to it than meets the eye?

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-3860037,prtpage-1.cms

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Antulay gets flak in Parliament over remarks on Karkare

Press Trust Of India

New Delhi, December 17, 2008

Minority Affairs Minister AR Antulay was in a belligerent mood and said I don't owe any explanation to anyone. He denied sensing any letter to the prime minister or Sonia Gandhi.

Antulay was earler in the eye of a storm in Parliament today with BJP and Shiv Sena members demanding his sacking in the wake of his statement on the killing of Maharashtra ATS chief Hemant Karkare.

"By his irresponsible statement, Antulay has created a problem for the country," BJP member Santosh Gangwar said in the Lok Sabha raising the issue amid cries of "shame, shame" from the opposition members.

The controversy had its echo in the Rajya Sabha too with a BJP member objecting to the "irresponsible" remarks. He was supported by JD-U, AIADMK and some opposition members.

Despite Speaker Somnath Chatterjee seeking to pacify members in Lok Sabha saying that the minister had issued denial and had made it clear that Karkare was killed by terrorists, BJP and Shiv Sena members were in no mood to relent.

BJP member Yogi Adityanath even made some objectionable remark against the minister, who was sitting in the House, but it was immediately expunged by the Speaker amid protests from some Congress members. "You cannot abuse an MP like this," he said strongly condemning the BJP member's remark.

With the opposition members demanding a statement from the prime minister on the Antulay issue, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said, "government will examine the statement and respond accordingly".

Antulay had on Wednesday raised doubts over the killing of Karkare by Pakistani terrorists, suggesting a link with the Malegaon blasts that were being investigated by him.

http://newageislam.org/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1066

War on Terror
23 Dec 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com

Antulay's empty mind is a devil's workshop: Time to recoup national unity

Union cabinet minister Abdur Rahman Antulay has done a great disservice to the nation at a very critical time. He has particularly harmed the interests of the Muslim community and in a way undone all the good the exemplary Muslim response to the Mumbai terror attack had done. Readers may recall my article: Muslim response to Mumbai terror in sync with the national mood, but what is wrong with our intellectuals? URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1043 It was posted on 7 Dec 2008, but today after more than a fortnight I received a comment from Ashok Chowgule, vice-President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, asking: "Given the fact that Antulay was mobbed, in favourable terms, when he went to a mosque near the parliament, how do you say that the Muslim response was in sync with the national mood?" Mr. Chowgule is a regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com. A prolific writer himself, he is kind enough to share with me his thoughts, send me his suggestions, urls of interesting articles, etc. regularly and this site benefits from his contribution. New Age Islam's readers must be very familiar with this fact. But he never questioned the premise of my above article until today. What has happened between then and now? Obviously, Antulay happened to us. … Sultan Shahin, editor, NewAgeIslam.com Photo: Hemant Karkare, martyred ATS Chief *** Antulay's empty mind is a devil's workshop: Time to recoup national unity By Sultan Shahin, editor, NewAgeIslam.com Union cabinet minister Abdur Rahman Antulay has done a great disservice to the nation at a very critical time. He has particularly harmed the interests of the Muslim community and in a way undone all the good the exemplary Muslim response to the Mumbai terror attack had done. Readers may recall my article: Muslim response to Mumbai terror in sync with the national mood, but what is wrong with our intellectuals? URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1043 It was posted on 07 Dec 2008, but today after more than a fortnight I received a comment from Mr. Ashok Chowgule, vice-President, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, asking: "Given the fact that Antulay was mobbed, in favourable terms, when he went to a mosque near the parliament, how do you say that the Muslim response was in sync with the national mood?" Mr. Chowgule is a regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com. A prolific writer himself, he is kind enough to share with me his thoughts, send me his suggestions, urls of interesting articles, etc. regularly and this site benefits from his contribution. New Age Islam's readers must be very familiar with this fact. But he never questioned the premise of my above article until today. What has happened between then and now? Obviously, Antulay happened to us. We can only recall with nostalgia now the sense of unity and purpose we had developed after the Mumbai massacres. We knew who the enemy was. The enemy had attacked us indiscriminately. As many as 40 out of the 172 killed were Muslims. This was an attack on the Indian nation. There was no communal question involved. Western media did try to project the issue as an internal Indian problem and published articles dripping with unprecedented sympathy for the "plight of Indian Muslims" in their bid to save Pakistan from being blamed. But the country saw the games they were playing and why. This was an attack on the Indian nation from a foreign power and the Indian nation rose up as one man to face the onslaught. We were in the process of giving a fitting reply to the enemy. What had happened was so obvious, so public, and with one terrorist captured alive, one would have thought, there would be no room for conspiracies this time. But conspiracy theories started swirling around within hours of the attack. Dangerous individuals with dangerous and completely baseless conspiracy theories started peddling their wares. Some Muslim intellectuals and Urdu newspapers editors initially lapped them up. But as the fog of whatever little misunderstanding there was cleared up, most Urdu newspapers too refrained from publishing these conspiracy theories. The nation was one and unified as seldom before after such a heart-wrenching tragedy. Mumbai Muslims refused to bury the Pakistani dead in their burial grounds, saying such dastardly killers and terrorists cannot be Muslims and do not deserve a Muslim burial. Muslims all over the country toned down Eid celebrations, merely going through the rituals, as they did not have the heart to celebrate Eid when the nation was in mourning. Describing the mood of unity I wrote a column titled: Indian Muslims' maturity, deft govt. handling staves off a crisis: Time for the West to watch in awe India's 'unified response to terror' This was posted on 10 Dec 2008 and is available at: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1044 Like the rest of the country Indian Muslims too opposed cricketing ties with Pakistan at this juncture. New Age Islam published two articles. Mumbai-based columnist Dr A R Mookhi wrote: "Until Pakistan government succeeds in demolishing the terror machines on their soils, India should have nothing to do with that nation. How can our team of eleven contemplate playing cricket in Lahore within weeks of their team of ten invading our country to kill our people so mercilessly?" Chennai-based columnist Jamsheed Basha Abumohammed wrote: "NO FUTURE SPORTING TIES WITH PAK UNTIL PAK DISMANTLE ALL INFRASTRUCTURE OF TERROR OPERATING FROM THEIR SOIL. We do not need such contacts with those people who come and enjoy our friendship and hospitality but behind the back, plan terrorist attacks." Please see: Indian Muslims oppose cricket ties with Pakistan until terror machine is dismantled URL: http://www.newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1061 And then it happened. Antulay!!! An out of work politician, wanting to make his presence felt. He demanded a separate probe into the circumstances that led to former ATS chief Hemant Karkare's death, throwing suspicion on the sequence of events we had been told about in which the terrorist attacks took place. I wish some one had told the prime minister in his childhood as my parents did: 'An empty mind is a devil's workshop'. He made Antulay a cabinet minister, for some reason, but gave him no work to do. Few people even knew he was still alive. His devil's workshop saw an opportunity. What the terrorists had wanted to do and failed, Antulay did for them. The very purpose of Pakistani terrorist attacks on India, whether by state actors or non-state actors or as a joint venture, is to disturb our communal harmony. The very idea of co-existence is anathema to them. Hindus and Muslims living and working together, in harmony, hits at the very idea of Pakistan, as an exclusivist Muslim state based on the infamous Two Nation Theory. Let me refer to two more articles on NewAgeIslam.com in this context: Religion of the Jahiliya: Jihadism is Kufr, not Islam - Pakistani Jihadists revealed plans for Indian Muslims in 1999 URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1048 Destroy Lashkar Camps: Why Indian Muslims are an existential threat to Pakistan? URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=1042 No wonder Antulay has become a hero in Pakistan. He has done what the Pakistani terrorists and their sponsors had failed to do – turn a national issue into a communal one. But he is not the lone culprit. What about the members of parliament from other partiers, including from the NDA who came out in his support, throwing suspicion on the turn of events? And what about those in the mosque near parliament who mobbed him, expressing their approval and appreciation of what he had done? Ashok Chowgule does have a point. Antulay has given him too an opening. His party too was dispirited with the sense of national unity prevailing in the country. VHP-brand politics too cannot survive in an atmosphere of the kind of national unity, communal harmony and cohesiveness seen following the Mumbai terror attack. In an article in The Hindu, Siddharth Varadarajan weaves his own conspiracy theory: "Amidst the bizarre conspiracy theories swirling around the subcontinent in the wake of last month's terrorist attacks in Mumbai, I would like to offer one of my own: Minority Affairs Minister A.R. Antulay is a secret agent of the Sangh Parivar. The reason I say this is because he is doing his utmost to ensure the involvement of Hindutva activists in the Malegaon blasts is not fully probed and that the fight against terrorism is converted into a communal issue." In similar vein a Mail Today report by Kay Benedict says BJP makes hay with Antulay fodder**. Antulay, of course, is convinced that his secular credentials are too well-established for any one to question. Now what? Well, it seems the Prime Minster is retaining Antulay in the cabinet. He has made a retraction of sorts. He is no longer demanding a separate probe into the circumstances that led to former ATS chief Hemant Karkare's death. With the government rejecting the conspiracy theory propounded by him over the death of ATS chief Hemant Karkare, he is now convinced that "there was no need for further probe" as the issue was now "settled". He has ruled out his resignation. Let us hope that if he is being retained in the cabinet, the government does give him some work to do as well. As for us, the beleaguered Muslims and genuine secularists, we have to get back to work. May not be easy to retrieve the magic of pre-Antulay days. But we have no option but to try and see that Muslims continue to demonstrate that they are truly in sync with national feelings and sentiments, aims and ambitions. Our national purpose right now is to make sure that Pakistani Jihadis do not see us as an ineffective giant, ready to be hurt again and again, not able to respond. Admittedly, we have to do that in a certain geopolitical environment over which we may not have much control. But we have to demonstrate our unity once again. Let there be no doubt in our enemy's mind that we are united in our resolve to make the idea of India, a secular plural India, a successful one. We may have in our midst a few Antulays and Safdar Nagoris, not to speak of Pragya Singh Thakurs, Praveen Togariyas and Narendra Modis, but we are a billion-strong country and these malefactors do not really count. We can build the country of our dreams and fight our wars and defeat our enemies despite them. Let Pakistani Jihadis and other enemies of India not think that a few politicians out to sell their country for a few votes can weaken our national resolve.