Policeman killed by Muslims as 'Islamic terror' strikes Hyderabad

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Police officers with the body of Constable Ramesh Kumar

Martyred policeman U.Ramesh Kumar

May 14, 2010

In a unprovoked terror attack by two Jihadi gunmen in the old city of Hyderabad on Friday, a police constable, U.Ramesh Kumar was shot dead as he stood next to a police picket.

The incident took place this evening near Volga Hotel in Shahali Banda area, about a kilometer from the Charminar and Mecca Masjid.

26-year-old U.Ramesh Kumar was born in Chittoor district and belonged to the 11th battalion of the Andhra Pradesh Special Police.

Police Commissioner A K Khan said Ramesh was hit by fired two rounds of fire from close range and was hit in the chest and the back.

The constable Ramesh was rushed to Osmania hospital where he was declared dead on arrival. Two other policemen were being treated for their injuries.

Friday's incident, in which two scooter-borne Muslim terrorists opened fire at a police picket in Shah Ali Banda locality, was a repeat of the attack of May 18 last year. One police constable was killed and another was injured when two motorcycle-borne Islamic terrorists had opened fire at the policemen at Falaknuma.

Khan told mediapersons at the scene of today's incident that the attack took place at around 4 pm when police men had heaved a sigh of relief as the Friday prayers had passed off peacefully.

"Some of the policemen on the picket duty had gone for lunch when unidentified persons had opened fire," he said.

Immediately a red alert was sounded in Hyderabad and neighbouring Cyberabad and police started looking for the suspected persons. Vehicles were being searched extensively.

When asked whether a wanted terrorist Viqaruddin, suspected in last year's attack could be involved in today's incident, Khan said, "It is difficult to say that he has done it. But he is among the suspects. There could be other people who were missing", he said.

The police had been hunting for Viqaruddin for more than a year, as he was wanted in two other attacks on policemen.

In an earlier attack, Viqaruddin had allegedly opened fire on a police picket at Falaknuma and killed a constable named Balaswamy. On December 3, 2008, Viqaruddin had allegedly opened fire on two policemen at Santoshnagar and injured them

He pointed out that after the intelligence warning of a possible terrorist attack in Hyderabad, police was maintaining high vigil and carrying out massive search operations.

During the search operation, the police had arrested a suspected operative of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba Ziaul Haq. Police commissioner said Haq was trained in Pakistan and after lying low for many years, he was now planning to carry out attacks in the city.

Stringent police bandobast near the shootout site in Old Hyderabad

MIM MLA Afsar Khan arrested for assaulting policeman on duty

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April 18, 2010:

Hyderabad police Sunday arrested Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislator Afsar Khan for slapping a police constable. Afsar Khan, member of Andhra Pradesh state legislative assembly from Karwan constituency in Hyderabad, and his two supporters were booked under section 353 of the Indian Penal Code (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty). The case was booked at Humayun Nagar police station and the legislator and his two aides were taken into custody. A large number of Jihadi supporters of Khan gathered outside the police station protesting his arrest. The MLA was released on bail late in the night. Police said the MLA slapped constable Shiva Prasad of Humayun Nagar police station Saturday when Shiva tried to stop Khan's cousin Jeelani from beating a Hindu boy at Sakina complex in Mehdipatnam area over a petty issue. The incident took place in the presence of sub-inspector Nagendar Rao. The police reached the complex after a woman lodged a complaint that Jeelani was beating her son for disturbing residents of the complex. As the police intervened and tried to stop Jeelani, a cousin of the MLA, and others from beating the boy, Khan reached there and allegedly slapped the constable. Violent attacks are not new to Khan. This Jihadi legislator has been arrested on at least three occasions in the past on criminal charges. In 2008, Khan was arrested for opening fire in the air to stop civic officials from demolishing an illegal building. In August 2007, Khan was one among the three MIM legislators arrested for violently attacking and attempting to lynch feminist and human rights crusader Taslima Nasreen at Hyderabad Press Club for blasphemy. Attack on Doctors In December 2007, he allegedly attacked Hindu junior doctors at government-run Niloufer Hospital. The barbaric attack triggered indefinite strike by doctors, paralysing healthcare across the state for several days. The AP Junior Doctors Association (APJDA) G. Raju said that the MLA’s inhuman behavior was nothing short of an attack on the medical profession. Junaid, a relative of MIM legislator Afsar Khan, took his daughter to Niloufer Hospital. He assaulted some doctors and ransacked a room following an argument with doctors after he was asked for a case shoot of the patient. He was taken into police custody following a complaint by the doctors. Later, Afsar Khan arrived at the hospital with his supporters. Doctors revealed Khan abused and manhandled several of them, including some women doctors. He also went to Nampally police station, where Junaid was being hold, and lodged a counter complaint against the doctors, accusing them of negligence and misconduct. The doctors went on a flash strike and demanded Khan's arrest.

Even after centuries of living in India, these Muslims consider themselves Arab, not Indian

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Such Jihadi localities are ticking time-bombs and cancerous lesions that will eventually turn India into a Saudi Arabia

http://living.oneindia.in/cosmopolitan/cosmo-life/2010/barkas-street-mini-arabia-hyderabad-010410.html

Barkas Street, A Mini Arabia In Hyderabad

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Barkas Street, located in Hyderabad is a hub of Arab culture, music and cuisine.

It was a colony of the former employees of Nizams, the sovereigns of the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad. As they were surrounded by hostile rulers in the Deccan, Nizams trusted the tall and strongly built Arabs. Arabs had been mostly recruited in their personal army. Their numbers grew and the Arabs were settled in barracks on the outskirts of the walled, gated city.

The name 'Barkas' is derived from the word 'Wadiya Barkas', which is a colony in Saudi Arabia. A regiment from Barkas in Arabia had been called to Hyderabad. So most of the residents of this colony are the original inhabitants of Yemen and Arabia. A male member from each family is currently working in the Gulf countries.

In this mini Arabia, where the current population is more than 1.5 lakh, the guests are welcomed with dates and qahwah (Arabian coffee). The roofs of the houses are decorated with the beautifully calligraphed verses, or Quranic Ayaats as they call.

One can savour Iranian dishes like Haleem (meat cooked with crushed wheat and spices) and Biryani (rice cooked with chicken) in any places in Hyderabad. But the sweet version of Haleem, known by the name Harees, is only available at Barkas.

At dawn, people from far-flung corners of the city and beyond flock to Barkas, to enjoy the piping hot delicacies at select restaurants.

Egyptian singer Amar Deyab and Lebanese lyricist Nancy Agram are quite popular among the residents.

Even in death, the exclusivity continues. The non-resident Muslims in Barkas are not allowed to find a resting place here.

"With God's grace, since the colony came into existence and till it exists, we will follow Arab culture," says Ali Bin Abdul Rehman, a resident of the colony.

In Arab countries, the youth of Hyderabad Barkas are obsessed with soccer. Hence the colony's link with the Arab world is not merely with the language and culture but through sports as well.


Reader Comment:

Not just Arabs. There are also tens of thousands of foreign African Muslims - all recent arrivals - living in Hyderabad. No one understands why they are there. Most of them are from west African nations like Nigeria. They are not students. They are not employed. No one knows what they do. Some of them claim that they are students of Islam. But its difficult to believe that a 40 year old is a student. Well - in India, that too in Hyderabad? And they came from some African country to study? Study what ?

They are so many of them in the old city that one could get an impression that you are in some other country like Morocco or Nigeria.

It is important that these guys are screened for national security.

No one should be allowed to mess with India.

Hyderabadi Muslim brides are treated like dirt in Pakistan

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Yet thousands of Hyderabadi fathers hanker after Pakistani alliances for their own daughters

G.S. RADHAKRISHNA, WITH INPUTS FROM RASHEED KIDWAI

http://telegraphindia.com/1100401/jsp/frontpage/story_12290475.jsp#

Hyderabad, March 31, 2010:

A celebrity wedding always turns heads but don’t expect Hyderabad to go gaga over Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik’s “Indo-Pak alliance”. The city hosts about 1,000 such marriages every year.

Since Partition, Hyderabad has been a happy hunting ground for Pakistani grooms, attracted by the reputation Indian brides enjoy across the border. Every summer, eligible Pakistanis and their relatives descend on the Andhra Pradesh capital, which has a large Muslim population with daughters to marry off.

“The overseas grooms come on the strength of references from former Hyderabadis who now live in Pakistan,” said Mohammed Zaheeruddin, chief qazi of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy district, who has solemnised several cross-border marriages.

When India took over the Nizam’s kingdom in 1948, over 25,000 Muslim families, with 1.5 lakh members, had moved into Pakistan and now live mostly in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

They still have links with their old city and send their sons to find brides here, or act as matchmakers for other Pakistanis.

It’s the city’s large number of elite and affluent Muslim families that makes Hyderabad such a hotspot for cross-border marriages. These families’ influence also makes visas and permits easier to arrange for the groom and his relatives.

The key reason Hyderabad scores over places like Lucknow or Bhopal is that its “social position” in global Muslim circles is higher than that of other places on the subcontinent — or in Saudi Arabia, Iran or Afghanistan.

This has been especially so since 1921 when the last and exiled Caliph of the Ottoman empire, Abdul Majid II, gave his exquisitely beautiful daughter Durrushehvar and his niece in marriage to the Nizam’s sons. The Caliph had nominated the Nizam’s eldest son as heir to the Caliphate, thus uniting the supreme spiritual authority of the Muslim world with its greatest concentration of riches.

The cross-border marriages generally work well. “Why shouldn’t they? Their (Pakistanis’) customs, food habits and dress — even the Urdu they speak — are similar to ours,” said Assembly employee Habib Abdul Shafi, whose nephew recently married a Pakistani MBA.

“Our daughters feel comfortable living in Pakistan,” said Yusuf Saleem, a dentist whose daughter wed a Pakistani scientist last year.

That may be so for most, but Sania and Shoaib may have been wise in deciding to settle down in Dubai. Not only might living in Pakistan have posed a problem for Sania as she continued to represent India in international events, the international athlete may have found Pakistani culture and dress codes, especially those for married women, a little restrictive.

A cultural mismatch had broken the marriage of Shoaib’s peer Imran Khan, whose English heiress wife Jemima felt herself stifled by the conservative lifestyle imposed on her in Pakistan and lacerated by the constant spotlight on her cricket legend-turned-politician husband.

Qazi Zaheeruddin said most instances of an Indo-Pak alliance going wrong, or engagements being broken, come from affluent families. “But such occurrences are one in 10,000 among the common folk, whose engagement and nikaah occur almost together or within a week,” he said.

Shoaib has admitted to having been engaged to a Hyderabadi girl eight years ago and then split from her.

“Even Sania Mirza broke her engagement (to a Hyderabadi childhood friend) and got ready for another wedding within two months,” the qazi pointed out.

The cross-border marriages have, however, declined since the 1990s after terrorism soured the two countries’ relations. Earlier, Hyderabad used to host some 4,000 to 5,000 such weddings a year.

Getting no-objection certificates from the home departments of the two countries has become more difficult now, said Urdu journalist Quyyum Khan. “In the past decade and a half, the environment has got vitiated and problems in visa and stay permits have surfaced,” he said.

“One has to run from pillar to post to get clearances, which get delayed even if one pays large bribes,” said Abdul Hameed, whose daughter recently married a Pakistani.

Mohammed Faheemuddin, a research scholar in Islamic studies who married a Pakistani a decade ago, said: “We are looked upon as traitors just because we seek an alliance in Pakistan.”

But such weddings have their critics, such as Abdul Wahab, a high court lawyer.

“Most Indian settlers in Pakistan are termed muhajirs (refugees) by the Pakistanis who would not give their daughters in marriage to them. So, the Indian settlers come down to Hyderabad or other district towns in Andhra Pradesh looking for alliances,” Wahab said.

Some others speak of the problems of marrying members of the Pakistani elite. Dilshad Jah, descendant of a Hyderabadi nawab, had married a Pakistani aristocrat but says it ended in divorce because her society would not accept him.

“They do not consider us as having any blue blood at all,” he said.

A leading Hyderabad citizen whose spices and dry fruit business extends to Pakistan and West Asia spoke of his experience after his daughter married into a rich family in Sialkot.

“They treated us like subordinates. Eventually, I had to bring my daughter back,” he said.

“It wasn’t like this immediately after Partition but things changed during military rule in Pakistan. Even the bigwigs among the muhajirs couldn’t get brides in Pakistan and were forced to come to Hyderabad,” said Mohammed Bin Mohammed, a retired government official who once served the Nizam.

Remember the real Komaram Puli ?

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Komaram Bheem is a famous Hindu Vanavasi leader who fought against the erstwhile Asaf Jahi dynasty for the liberation of Hyderabad State at the beginning of the 20th century. In Telugu, he is known as Komaram Puli ('Tiger') for his bravery and martial skills.

The birth of the liberation movement originally took place when Hindus, be it villagers (Gramvasis), forest-dwelling tribals (Vanavasis) or city-dwellers (Nagaravasis), were fed up of the atrocities of the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Under the Nizam's theocratic rule (as under the previous rule by the Sultans), Hindus were killed or forcibly converted in lakhs. Countless Hindu women and children were raped and carred away as sex slaves. Ancient Hindu temples were desecrated and destroyed and built over by mosques. Hindu names of cities were banned and Islamic Slave Names were imposed on cities, viz. Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Sikandarabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Zaheerabad, Musheerabad, Quthbullapur and so on.

As neither Vanavasis, Gramvasis or Nagaravasis were spared the Islamic oppression, it was obvious that all of them would rise up in revolt. A group of Hindu bravehearts together to protest these acts, and finally, took up violent means to counter the Nizam and safeguard the Hindu masses. Komaram Bheem is a bright flame that lit the fire of liberation amongst the people.

Komaram Bheem was born in a family of Gond Tribals in the forests of Adilabad. He was not exposed to the outside world and did not have any formal education.

Komaram Bheem is not the hero that our literatures have raved upon. Neither is he a magical superman that Indian cinema has created.

He is like the wild forest into which, far from the madding crowds of civilisation, he was born. He is the very heart-throb of the Gond Tribals, whose hearts were in the forests of Adilabad. Komaram Bheem fought against the religious Jazia tax that was imposed by the Nizam government on Hindus. He revolted against the injustice meted out to his brothers. He defied courts and the law, choosing to depend on the wild world. He took up cudgels against Nizam Nawab's soldiers, and fighting Babi Jhari, he breathed his last as a martyr.

Komaram Bheem is the Hindu superman at the beginning of the 20th century, and a veritable 'Bheem' in the contemporary Hindu history, a great warrior of valour that stood like a rock to protect Hindu tribals. He revered the beauty of Sombai, he was a man who never knew anything other than physical labour, and he was a beacon that lighted up the dark world of the Gonds with the flames of Hindutva like the very sun lighting up the wilderness.

Like all the children of wild, Bheem's younger days did not expose him to the outside world. As he came on the threshold of adolescence, he heard the plight of tribals paying unjustifiable Jazia tax. Even as an adolescent, he took to task Siddiqui, an Officer of the Nizam, and gave him a taste of his muscle. Evading the police and traversing such places as Chanda and Pune, he finally reached the Gond land to sow the seeds of revolution.

Bheem was inspired by Alluri Sitaramaraju, and his heart was aflame when he heard the death of Bhagat Singh. Realising that the time was near to revolt against the the Nizam Government's wild official injustice, Komaram Bheem became a veritable deity, raging with the fire of revolt.

Talukdar Abdul Sattar failed to bring Bheem to kow-tow his line. Abdul Sattar, well equipped with ninety policemen armed with guns, attacked Bheem, who did not have any armour to protect himself. On that fateful full moon night, hundreds of followers of Bheem armed themselves with bows, arrows, swords and spears. The fearless Gonds launched a frontal assault, from just a dozen feet away from the Nizam's police force, braved their guns, only to be riddled with bullets.

That night, the moon burnt like a flaming sun.

That night, the wild moonlight became a veritable stream of tears.

That night, the martyr Komaram Bheem became a deity and eternal hero to the Hindu community.

A movie, Komaram Bheem, was made directed by Allani Sridhar, which received several awards such as A P State Nandi Awards, Best Feature Film on National Integration and Best First Film of Director Allani Sridhar.

On December 17, 2009, it was announced that a statue of Bheem would be created in Hyderabad. The government has decided to install in Hyderabad a statue of Komaram Bheem, who carried out a crusade in Adilabad area for Hindu Vanavasis' rights during the Nizam period, as he symbolised the Hindu Vanavasis’ self-respect and sacrifice.

Lashkar terrorist held in Hyderabad; Terror strike averted

Police Commissioner A.K. Khan showing to the media photographs of Mohd. Zia-ul-Haq in Hyderabad on Monday.

Times of India, May 4, 2010

HYDERABAD: In a major breakthrough, the Hyderabad police arrested a hardcore Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) operative, Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq, from Edibazar in the city. They seized two Chinese-make grenades, a 7.4 mm pistol with six live rounds and a cellphone from him.

Briefing the media, city police commissioner A K Khan said, "We had information that a few suspected terror elements were planning to strike at thickly populated areas. We foiled their bid and arrested Zia-ul-Haq."

On a tip-off, police picked up a few suspects. Of them, 34-year-old Haq, resident of Edibazar, was found to be an LeT operative. A native of Khanapur in Adilabad district, he was working as a cab driver in the city.

While studying Intermediate, Haq left for Saudi Arabia to work there. There he got acquainted with a Pakistani national, Abu Ali, who introduced him to LeT commander Abdul Aziz, the commissioner said. Later, Abdul Aziz sent him to Pakistan in 2002 for training. After landing in Karachi, he went to Muzaffarabad where he was received by one Abu Kasim. He was trained at an LeT camp for a month, he added.

Later, he along with seven other Indians infiltrated into India through the Poonch sector of Jammu & Kashmir. Since then, he has been working with various travel companies as taxi driver. Instructed to work as a sleeper cell, he did reconnaissance of HITEC City, Imax theatre and film theatres in Chikkadpally while regularly contacting his handlers.

In December, 2005, Haq reportedly received a call from Abdul Aziz tasking him to proceed to Delhi. Haq went to Delhi and received four hand grenades and a pistol with six live rounds from a courier sent by LeT handler Mehmood.

The LeT commander started mounting pressure on Haq to execute a 'sensational operation'. Haq went to Odeon Deluxe theatre in Chikkadpally on May 7, 2006 and lobbed a grenade under a seat 10 minutes before interval at around 10.15 pm. He wanted to throw another grenade outside the cinema, however, since the one lobbed inside the hall exploded, he panicked and left the second one in a dustbin, the commissioner said.

Though Haq remained under the radar, in a "sleeper cell", since 2006, of late, he wanted to start some attacks with LeT handlers. In Hyderabad, Haq was doing recce of vulnerable targets behind the disguise of a taxi driver, said the police commissioner.

Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq was actively looking out for targets to cause bomb blasts in thickly-populated Hindu areas of the city and to cause ‘maximum damage’. He was also close to finalising an attack on top multinational Deloitte's offices in Hyderabad.

DJS terrorists shoot, seriously injure two policemen, red alert in Hyderabad

Waqar Ahmed

HYDERABAD, India, Dec 3, 2008 (Reuters) – A policeman who tried to arrest a local Muslim leader in the southern city of Hyderabad were injured on Wednesday when the Muslim Jihadis opened fire. Their leader Waqar Ahmad was a former SIMI activist who is presently active in the notorious terror group DJS (Darshgah Jihad O Shahadath).

The shooting came amid heightened security alerts across India barely one week after the November 26 attacks in Mumbai where 171 Hindus, Jews and Christians were massacred by Islamic Jihadis.

There was panic in Hyderabad after accomplices of a former SIMI activist Waqar Ahmed, an accused in the Mecca Masjid blast case, opened fire on a police team at Santhoshnagar Cross Roads today afternoon. Waqar Ahmed has been absconding and police said they received a tip-off that he was moving around in the slums adjoining Santhoshnagar. A team of anti-insurgency force policemen was dispatched there to check the information.

Police officials said that the police patrol spotted Wiqar Ahmed walking near the Santhoshnagar cross road and started to chase him.

The "Tanveer Sanitation" store near Santoshnagar Crossroads where the firing took place

As the constables cornered Waqar Ahmed near the "Tanveer Sanitation" store and were taking him away, a four member gang of DJS Jihadis emerged suddenly and started firing. They opened fire at the policemen in which head constable Rama Raju was hit in the stomach and collapsed on the road. The injured constable has been rushed to the Apollo DRDO hospital where his condition is stated to be serious. Another constable suffered hand injures as the bullets struck his hand. Immediately, the four DJS terrorists, along with Wiqar Ahmad, escaped.

Braveheart head constable Rama Raju who was seriously injured

Hyderabad Police Commissioner B Prasada Rao said, “A police patrol recognised Waqar Ahmed and he was surrounded but suddenly his accomplices opened fire and a Head Constable Rama Raju was hit in the stomach. He has been admitted to the Apollo Hospital. The Islamic terrorist fled the spot in the ensuing melee.”

The owner of "Tanveer Sanitation" store has been arrested for questioning and possible terror ties.

Meanwhile, a red alert has been announced in the city. Police put up barricades across the city and all vehicles are being checked. Additional forces have been rushed to public places and suspicious persons are being frisked and their identifies are being checked.

DJS gang of 'Jihadi serial killers' hunted Hindus like animals

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On 01-02-2003, the police in Ranga Reddy district, skirting the Andhra Pradesh capital Hyderabad, has busted a gang of 'Jihadi murderers' with the arrest of four Muslim youths involved in the serial killing of atleast 100 innocent people from the Hindu community.

District Superintendent of Police V. Ramchandra Raju told a news conference here yesterday that the four were activists of the Muslim organisation, Darsgah-e-Jehad-o-Shahadat (DJS), active in the old city of Hyderabad.

Darsgah-e-Jehad-o-Shahadat (DJS) means "Center for Holy War and Martyrdom".

Mr Raju said the Muslim gang had carried out the killings of Hindus with the motive of launching Jihad. The four Jihadis are Mohammed Jaffer Khan (the 24-year-old owner of a hotel), Akbar (21-year-old bakery worker), 20-year-old driver Syed Mukhtar and 25-year-old Khalid.

The police have booked cases of murder, robberies, extortion and conspiracy to create communal discord and violence. The suspects have been sent to judicial custody. However Mr Ramchandra Raju said the DJS leader, 25-year-old Imtiaz, a lorry driver was absconding and the police were hunting for him.

The SP said that the modus operandi of the murderous DJS Jihadis was such that they used to pick up the unsuspecting Hindus from the bus stand or other places in their car after offering them a lift. After ascertaining victims' religious identity, the Muslims drove the unsuspecting Hindus to deserted places. There, the Muslims tied up their victims and slaughtered them ritually by slitting their throats Halal-style while chanting Quranic verses.

More than 100 Hindus are feared to have been murdered in cold blood in a similar manner by other DJS gangs operating throughout the city. Their bodies were found in similarly in deserted areas with slit throats.

But due to public apathy, there is no move to bring about an official ban on the DJS under POTA , arrests of its leader, Shaik Mahboob Ali, his son and son-in-law and other supporters and seizure of its assets.

There is no public outcry for Mahboob Ali’s arrest that would result in unearthing of information about the activities of other similar organisations which were allegedly responsible for "jehadi’ murders.

It is an open secret that various attacks like the bomb blast in the Saibaba temple at Dilsukhnagar and the attack on the Birla Mandir besides several murder cases in City and the outskirts which remained officially unsolved can be traced to DJS.

The MIM is openly supporting the DJS attackers involved in the Saibaba temple case. There is a open nexus between DJS, MIM and the outlawed Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). The police argue that organisations such as the Darsgah Jehad-o-Shahadat (DJS) and the Tahreek Tahfooz Shaer-e-Islam (TTSI) have been breeding centres for Islamic militancy. They claim that high-profile militants have usually been trained by both organsiations, the DJS in martial arts and TTSI for militant mentality. The DJS claims to provided training to 20,000 men and 1,200 women so far.

DJS activist Vikar Ahmed, who along with his Jihadi associates, had fled after firing at three policemen at Santoshnagar and had connections with SIMI. Vikar Ahmed was well-known for his hate-filled sermons at the Darsgah Jihad-O-Shahadath (DJS) office for its Jihadi cadres attending the weekly arms training.

On 01-11-2004, terrorists of the Muslim organisation Darasgah Jihad-o-Shadath (DJS), who were following a vehicle carrying the dead body of the 20-year-old Jihadi called Mujahid Saleem Islahi, suddenly attacked policemen as they reached the volatile Saeedabad area. Islahi was killed when a Gujarat Police officer opened fire after about 50 followers of cleric Moulana Naseeruddin attacked a police team who came to arrest him.

Tahreek Tahfooz Shaer-e-Islam (TTSI) founder Moulana Naseeruddin was arrested in Hyderabad in connection with the murder of former Gujarat Home Minister and Hindu leader Haren Pandya. Previously, this Mullah had been arrested for giving shelter to a Pakistani terrorist and storing his automatic weapons and explosives in his own house. This bearded Mullah has groomed his children to follow in his footsteps. His three sons have been arrested for different terrorist cases, including terror blasts in 2007 at two popular locations - Lumbini Park and Gokul Chat Bhandar - in Hyderabad that killed 50 Hindu youngsters and left dozens of Hindu youths crippled for life.

[Reminder: This is the same Moulana Naseeruddin who is shown in the November 2004 photograph below (left, bearded with Jinnah fur cap) meeting with a prominent Naxalite (Maoist) terrorist leader Ramakrishna (center with green military-style cap) who proclaimed their decision to work together to jointly target Hindu Nationalists in the country and reiterated their decision to "physically eliminate'' the Hindu Nationalist forces.]

As Moulana Naseeruddin was being whisked away in a police van, about 20 Jihadis of Darsgah-Jihad-o-Shaadat (DJS), including women, threw stones and obstructed the van. As the vehicle stopped, they forcibly opened it and tried to take Moulana away while stabbing the police with swords and knives. Police prevented it by opening fire during which Islahi received bullet wounds.

The body of the dead Jihadi, Islahi, was brought to his house in Saeedabad in a procession from Osmania General Hospital where an autopsy was conducted. The procession took one hour to cover a distance of five kilometres as hundreds of Jihadis joined the procession.

Earlier, amid high drama, Mujahid's body was shifted from a private hospital to the government-run Osmania hospital for autopsy. Five people, including DJS president Mahaboob Ali, who were arrested Sunday night, were released to pacify the agitated Jihadis mob.

The autopsy was conducted after Islahi's father Abdulaleem Islahi rushed here from Kuwait and declared he was proud to be the father of a martyr.

A young Madrasa student dressed in battle fatigues, holding a placard "The Quran will be Constitution of India and I will be the Soldier of Allah" at a rally organised by DJS in Hyderabad in 2005.

Two brainwashed Madrasa students raising anti-Indian slogans at the DJS rally

HYDERABAD

Climate of Jehad

Protest rallies such as this glorify terrorism to keep passions inflamed in Hyderabad

Seven-year-old Saleem came dressed as told. He covered his face and brought along his new gift-a toy Kalashnikov-to join the rally. The December 6 protest rally is an annual feature of Hyderabad but it is also illustrates how the jehadi mindset takes hold of a boy's mind. He is told to prepare for a holy war to subjugate India under Islamic rule, and terrorism is glorified by toy guns. That's how the Darsgah Jehad-o-Shahadat (DJS) keeps passions inflamed in the bylanes of the old city. History blends with propaganda to create an explosive cocktail.

No wonder there is a section ready to play host to those carrying the real weapons in their jehad. "This is quite disconcerting and the terrorist threat is serious," admits Police Commissioner P. Ramulu. Perhaps more serious than the Naxalite threat.

For the itinerant terrorist, Hyderabad is a haven. There are plenty of safe houses both in the old city and pockets in west Hyderabad. The security of these enabled Mohammed Ishtiaq, a let activist from Pakistan to cultivate relationships, marry a Hyderabadi girl and pass off as a local for three years.

Ishtiaq may have stayed that way longer but for a tip-off from the Delhi police after blasts in the capital in the summer of 1998. The Hyderabad Police tracked him down and arrested two other Pakistanis, Mohammed Shafeeq and Farooq Ahmed-both trained by the let-with a large cache of weapons and 18 kg of RDX.

The alarm bells first rang in November 1992, when Additional Superintendent of Police G. Krishna Prasad and his gunman were shot dead in the labyrinthine Bhavani Colony while raiding a terrorist hideout. The militants had links with the Mujahuddin-e-Islam of Kashmir which in turn was handled by the ISI. Subsequently, activists of outfits like Iqwan-ul-Muslimeen and Tanzeen Islahul-Muslimeen developed Hyderabad as a major terrorist centre for the ISI.

"The isi strategy was to create several modules with non-descript names and independent of one another to put us off any strong leads," says a senior police official. Later, they secured local recruits and sent them to Pakistan for training. They included a wanted killer Abu Omer, who returned to India with a Pakistani passport and attempted to kill former Mumbai mayor Milind Vaidya in March 1999 before the police caught him at a guest house in Lucknow.

Hyderabad has been targeted by the ISI because of its communal mix and strategic location. It is both the hub from where militants head for get-aways in contiguous Maharashtra and Karnataka and the hide-outs of others who carry out operations elsewhere. Activists of the Al Umma, responsible for the Coimbatore blasts of February 1998, were provided shelter in the Secunderabad cantonment.

What baffles the police is the frequency with which terrorist facilitators change labels. Often, dormant groups are activated for specific missions. "We can't take any action as we lack evidence," admits a top official. At best the special task force for ISI activities can monitor jehadi groups. But there is no way it can anticipate when impressionable boys like Saleem turn activist and start harbouring terrorists.

COVER STORY

An open-ended scheme

N. RAHUL

K. BHAGYA PRAKASH

A digital image of Abdul Rahman, prime suspect in the shootout at IISc Bangalore on December 30, is displayed by Bangalore Police Commissioner Ajaykumar Singh.

HYDERABAD

HOLDING back his tears, 75-year-old Maulana Abdul Aleem Islahi recounted the saga in which his eldest son, Mujahid Saleem Azmi (23), was gunned down by a Gujarat Police squad right in front of the Andhra Pradesh State Police headquarters in Hyderabad over a year ago.

Islahi is among the scores of kin of Muslims who strayed to the path of jehadi violence in the State in an ideological reaction to the terror perpetrated by the state itself.

The State police have busted 24 ISI-backed operations and arrested 170 youth in specific cases since Islamic fundamentalism raised its head in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition.

During this time the militants were based mostly in Hyderabad and to some extent in Nalgonda. A suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative, Abdul Rahman, was picked up by the Bangalore Police in Nalgonda in connection with the recent shootout at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

The police argue that organisations such as the Darsgah Jehad-o-Shahadat (DJS) and the Tahreek Tahfooz Shaer-e-Islam (TTSI) have been breeding centres for Islamic militancy. They claim that high-profile militants have usually been trained by both organsiations, the DJS in martial arts and TTSI for militant mentality.

The police arrested a mechanic and TTSI activist Shakeel in connection with the recent suicide bombing at the Hyderabad Police Commissioner's Task Force. Shakeel is also employed in the workshop of the TTSI founder-president Maulana Naseeruddin, who is lodged in the Sabarmati jail after he was booked in the Gujarat conspiracy case.

Muslim leaders describe the case as part of an "open-ended scheme" of the Gujarat Police to pick up people from Andhra Pradesh for riots in that State. They say that so far 18 persons have been arrested and 40 more are wanted.

The cases of the human bomb from Bangladesh, Mohtaseem Bilal, who blew himself up at the Commissioner's Task Force, and the alleged Hizbul Mujahideen activist, Mujeeb Ahmed, are being pursued by the police. It was Mujeeb Ahmed who set the tone for Islamic fundamentalist violence, by gunning down Additional Superintendent of Police Krishna Prasad in 1992. He and his brother, who was killed, allegedly procured an AK-47 rifle from the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF).

Mujeeb Ahmed was jailed in the case but was granted remission of sentence by the State government for good conduct on the eve of Independence Day in 2004. Mujeeb Ahmed was said to be in touch with the Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Salahuddin, while he was serving his sentence in jail. He renewed his contacts with the cadre of the organisation after his release. The police booked a case against him under the Indian Telegraphic Act after recovering a satellite phone and compact discs containing seditious speeches.

In 1993, a doctor from Mumbai, Jalees Ansari, carried out five explosions in and around Hyderabad, marking a change in tactics by fundamentalists.

Azam Ghouri and Asghar Ali are others who have taken the jehadi movement forward. Asghar Ali was a petty criminal who came in contact with Mujeeb Ahmed in jail. On his release, Asghar Ali procured weapons and Research Department Explosives (RDX) from Kashmir with the help of contacts introduced to him by Mujeeb Ahmed.

The Indian Muslim Mohammedi Mujahideen (IMMM) and the Deendar Anjuman, Muslim Jihadi group that actively converted Veerashaiva Lingayat Hindus to Islam and headquartered at Gadag in Karnataka, fuelled the movement in subsequent years. The Anjuman's chief, Zia-ul-Hasan, is said to have settled in Pakistan after migrating from Hyderabad. The sect allegedly aims to destroy the Indian economy through jehad. It carried out several explosions in the State, including in churches and mosques.

Jihadi MIM MLA opens fire in Abids

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Source: http://www.chitramala.com/news/mim-mla-afsar-khan-abids-107062.html

Hyderabad, July 26, 2008: Tension prevailed in the Andhra Pradesh capital Saturday as a legislator was arrested for firing in the air to stop municipal authorities from demolishing illegal structures.

The arrest of Afsar Khan, who belongs to the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM), sparked unrest in Abids and led to a massive traffic jam in the city centre.

Police said Khan opened fire from his licensed revolver when officials of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) were demolishing an illegal structure on Chappel Road in Abids.

The legislator, who represents Karwan assembly constituency in Hyderabad, protested the GHMC’s action and wanted the officials to stop the demolition immediately. As the officials continued their work, he whipped out his revolver and opened fire, creating panic among the GHMC personnel who fled for their lives.

Police arrested Khan as employees of GHMC’s town planning wing took to the streets and staged a sit-in to demand action against him.

Tension prevailed in the area as a large number of MIM workers resorted to violence outside Abids police station to demand the legislator’s release. They blocked the roads leading to M.J. Market and Koti bringing traffic movement to a grinding halt. The violent MIM workers even attacked school buses.

The legislators and the Lok Sabha member Asaduddin Owaisi had lengthy discussions with the police officials and withdrew the demonstration after the police registered cases against the GHMC officials.

The MIM thugs filed a false FIR against the duty-bound GHMC officials. Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 147 (rioting) and 148 (rioting armed with deadly weapons) read with 149 (unlawful assembly) of Indian Penal Code were invoked against the GHMC officials.

In addition to GHMC Chief City Planner Purushotham Reddy, names of GHMC Assistant City Planner, Shama, and GHMC section officer, Ranjit, figured in the First Information Report.

MIM floor leader in the assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi and three other party legislators also rushed to the police station demanding Khan’s release. The protest led to a huge traffic jam in the busy area as MIM workers also forced shops to down shutters. Hundreds of vehicles were caught in the nearly five-kilometre-long traffic snarl.

MIM leaders said that Khan rushed to the scene after some GHMC employees manhandled another party legislator Moazzam Khan, who along with his supporters, tried to stop the demolition. However, GHMC employees alleged that the MIM legislators manhandled them and prevented them from doing their duty.

Karwan MLA Mohd Muqtada Khan alias Afsar Khan has been involved in several controversial incidents in the past.

Afsar Khan’s alleged attack on junior doctors at Niloufer Hospital in December 2007 had sparked a protest by medicos who struck work for several days, paralysing healthcare across the state. He allegedly attacked them for not providing proper treatment to a child. Following the orders of the magistrate, the Nampally police booked an attempt-to-murder case against the MLA on Dec. 7, 2007.

He was one among the three MIM MLAs who attacked controversial Bangladeshi novelist Taslima Nasreen at Press Club, Somajiguda last August. The novelist was here to release the Telugu version of her book ’Shodh’. A case was slapped against Afsar Khan under Section 354 (Outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

He was also named an accused in the attack against ’Siasat’ editor last year. When the editor, Zahed Ali Khan, was returning home after office on March 20, 2007, a youth dumped filth on his car near St Ann’s College, Mehdipatnam. The editor alleged that Karwan MLA Afsar Khan was behind the attack.

In another incident, the MLA’s associates ransacked Archeological Survey of India (ASI) office at Sultan Bazar last year when officials were trying to remove encroachments at Golconda Fort. The officers alleged that the MIM activists attacked them only on his instigation.

More recently, in June, when officers of National Child Labour Project rescued 10 children workers from various establishments at Tolichowki and Mehdipatnam areas, the MLA prevented officers from shifting them to transit homes and freed them.

The MLA is reportedly a defaulter of Charminar Bank loan.

Afsar Khan first got elected to the Assembly from the Karwan constituency in September 2003, but the House was dissolved within a month. He won the 2004 election from the same constituency.

The 59-year-old MLA, who completed BA, runs a real estate business. His brother Meraj Khan, who died recently, was known as ’Meraj Pahelwan’. Both Afsar Khan and his brother shot into the limelight because of their real estate business.

Traffic comes to a halt on Basheerbagh - Abids Road as MIM activists resort to violence in front of the police station after a clash with GHMC demolition squad.

Legislator Afsar Khan threatening police officials at Abids police station

MIM leaders openly attempt to murder brave feminist, ex-Muslim author

Mainstream Urdu newspapers Siasat and Munsif regret that she escaped alive

Taslima Nasreen is a prominent ex-Muslim author, feminist and intellectual.

She has been vocally supporting the rights of minorities in Bangladesh and for waging consistent struggle against the fundamentalist, mindless, barbaric ideologies like Islam. She has spoken out in favour of equal rights for women and has expressed opposition to the oppression of Hindu minorities in Islamic societies, such as in her home country Bangladesh.

Nasreen has incensed Muslims for writing a factual novel "Lajja" ("Shame") depicting the life of a Hindu family facing the genocide by Muslims in Bangladesh. The book is banned in Muslim-majority Bangladesh and several Indian states.

As a result of her bold initiatives, she was forced to leave Bangladesh in 1994 and take shelter in India after Muslims decried her writings as blasphemous and demanded her execution.

Taslima Nasreen is a strong woman, and we admire her. We need more brave souls just like her. She openly proclaimed that there should be “No veil, no chador, no hijab, no burqa, no headscarf. Women should not use any of these things because all these are instruments of disrespect”.

That is a powerful argument against encasing women in shaggy bags and shrouds.

“Women are told to wear them so that they cannot exist with their self-respect, honour, confidence, separate identity, own opinion and ideals intact," she stressed.

One would think that the oppressed women would rally around her, alas; fear compels most Muslimahs [Muslim women] to remain silent. The Muslimah really have only to fear the believers for the disbelievers respect free choice. The believers will make the Muslimah blood flow if the Muslimah were to remove those shaggy bags and demeaning shrouds. Nothing lasts forever, and this too shall pass away.

On August 9, 2007, Taslima Nasrin was in Hyderabad to present the Telugu translation of one of her novels, Shodh, when she was attacked by a mob of violent intruders, led by legislators from the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, a Muslim political party.

“We were all set to kill her”, said Majidullah Khan about Taslima Nasrin.

The brazen attempt to lynch Taslima Nasrin happened in Hyderabad, India on August 9th, 2007.

The Majlis-e-Ittehadul-Muslimeen (MIM) has warned that it will not allow Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin to go back alive if she dared to come back to the city while the Majlis Bachao Tehreek claimed that their plan to kill her was foiled by the MIM attack.

"We are very proud of our MLAs and activists who assaulted her," said MIM leader and Member of the State Legislature Akbaruddin Owaisi. "We will implement the fatwa issued against Taslima if she comes to the city again."

(Photo-Gallery)

Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MLAs and Jihadis attempt to kill Taslima Nasreen at the Hyderabad press club in Hyderabad.

Kudos to the brave elderly man, Mr.Innaiah Narisetti, who stood up to these misogynistic pigs and sustained injuries while defending this defenseless woman.

Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasrin was roughed up by legislators of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) and a mob led by them in the Press Club of Hyderabad. She had just completed her engagement when about 20 MIM activists, led by MLAs Syed Ahmed Pasha Qadri, Afsar Khan and Moazzam Khan, barged into the conference hall.

She looked in disbelief as they hurled abuses against her. Demanding to know "who had mustered the guts to invite her to Hyderabad, they wanted Ms. Nasrin to be handed over to them.

Without further warning, they began throwing books, bouquets, chairs, and whatever they could lay their hands on at her. Some persons in the mob almost got hold of her but Narisetti Innaiah, rationalist and chairman of the Center for Inquiry, who was her host, shielded her. He was injured in his face. A couple of journalists who went to their rescue also sustained injuries in the scuffle.

Ms. Nasrin escaped unhurt though she was badly shaken by the sudden attack that came minutes after she made a categorical statement that she would continue to fight against evil "till my death".'

Here are two videos of the barbaric attack on this defenseless woman:

On August 10 were two fiery, rabble-rousing statements in Urdu newspapers with translations below (The phrase "Gustakh-e-Rasul" means "one who insults the prophet"):

In Siasat, dated August 10, under two headings:

• 'Gustakh-e-Rasul Authoress Taslima Nasrin Attacked with Bouquets of Flowers'
• 'An Observance of What the Shari'at Commands or Merely a Political Ruse?'

'. . . Gustakh-e-Rasul Taslima Nasrin succeeded in safely going back from Hyderabad, despite the fact that three MLAs, with some fifty supporters, threw flowers at her in the name of a protest. The shameless Gustakh-e-Rasul authoress, who stands next to Salman Rushdie, was taking part in a function organized by the Center for Enquiry at the Press Club, Somaji Goda, when three members of the Legislative Assembly, Muqtada Khan Afsar, Ahmad Pasha Qadiri, and Muazzam Khan, together with more than 50 of their supporters, arrived and, while using abusive language, did no more than cause a ruckus and some vandalism. All of them were unable to harm in the slightest a Gustakh-e-Rasul, not even a woman Gustakh-e-Rasul.

A person despised in the Muslim world, against whom fatwas to kill have been issued, on such a person they threw [merely] bouquets that had been placed near the stage, when [in fact] there were not too many people present there to protect her….

'Neither the police nor the Intelligence Service knew about the presence of Taslima Nasrin. That is why the MLAs had a fine opportunity to disrupt her program. However, a most opportune moment to enforce the law of Shari'a on that Gustakh-e-Rasul was wasted, what they did was only for political opportunism. The political ambitions of the protesters was also made evident by the fact that they dared not throw shoes or chappal at the Gustakh-e-Rasul who was only three or four feet away from them, but instead kept throwing bouquets. The Muslim Millat can tolerate every tyranny, injustice, and humiliation but it can never tolerate any disrespect to the Last of the Prophets (pbuh). Whenever anyone has shown such disrespect, Muslims have in turn shown no fear in bringing that person to his deserved end. It is a fact of history that the Faithful have never worried about consequences when it comes to punishing a person who defames the Prophet (pbuh).'

2. In Munsif, dated August 10, under three headings::

• 'An Attempt to Attack the Gustakh-e-Rasul and "Notorious in Time" Taslima Nasrin'
• 'The Bangladeshi Authoress Didn't Get Even a Scratch.'
• 'People say: 'The confused author should have been taught a severe lesson.'

'Three members of the legislative assembly, with some fifteen supporters, disrupted the meeting. They raised slogans and threw a bouquet of flowers and a ladies' handbag toward Taslima Nasrin. Taslima Nasrin hid in a panic behind her hosts and was not at all hurt. She was trembling in fear even though no protesters came near her or lay a hand on her….

'Eyewitnesses say that the way this protest was conducted made it look like a welcoming ceremony with flowers instead. The MLAs and other protesters threw only flowers at Nasrin. They took flowers out of the bouquets set up in the hall, and threw them at her. Not one of the protesters had the courage to take off his shoes or chappals and hit Taslima with them, throw them at her, or at least point the same at her. It was perfectly legitimate [ja'iz] to attack Taslima Nasrin, to humiliate her, or to insult and mock her in any fashion. However, the MLAs and workers of a political party threw flowers, which had people's minds ringing with the old song, 'Baharo phul barsao, mera mahbub aayaa hai.'

'What should have been done instead? Taslima Nasrin should have been dishonoured in such a manner that henceforth she'd never dare to return to Hyderabad. But that was not done. There was no police officer present there. Only two persons were trying to protect Taslima. The protesting MLAs made a lot of noise but showed no willingness to charge forward. Those who saw the whole thing call it a "drama." The leaders of this political party had thrown a pot of filth upon the editor of an Urdu newspaper in Mahdi Patnam, but now they showered only flowers on a Gustakh-e-Rasul. Today all was possible to teach a Gustakh-e-Rasul and a disparager of Islam what her end could be, but a political party of the city wasted the opportunity by seeking only cheap publicity. The leaders of this party drew revolvers in their tussle over one hundred yards of Waqf land, but cast only flowers at Taslima today….'

One was not surprised to find such hate against non-Muslims in the Hyderabadi Urdu press. And the more professional report published on the English language website of Siasat, reflective of a kind of hypocrisy also found in Muslim circles, came not as a surprise either. One is always on one's best behaviour in English in India. Or so was the case, we thought. But the August 11 web-edition of the English language Siasat carried an unsigned statement concerning the incident that tells me that things have indeed changed radically. The statement is headlined, 'Barking dogs never bite!', and read as follows:

'It is said that 30 minutes are enough either to make or break anybody's career, reputation or life. In the wake of the incident of attack on Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreeen [sic] at press club on Thursday, it is indeed unbelievable that MIM MLAs got more than 30 minutes and instead of using this time to its maximum damage, they simply wasted it in chanting useless slogans and hurling flower bouquets knowing fully that they would get badly needed political mileage.

'They could not lift even a chair lying near by to attack her with strong impact though only a few persons were present there. It is nothing but a political gimmick played on her.

'The suicide bombers in Iraq are the best example to eliminate not only their targets but also themselves. And they are doing so with an eye blinker. Imagine, what could they have done if they had 30 minutes. Religious sentiments are totally different from the political ambitions.

'If you are religiously hurt, no might on this earth be able to prevent you to eliminate a person or organization that is involved in blasphemy of prophet Muhammad (PBUH). It clearly indicates that whatever MIM people have on their tongue, it is missing from their hearts as the proverb goes that barking dogs never bite.

'Now, according to Times of India and The Hindu, they are trying to add one more 'feather' to their cap by showing an intention to organize a campaign against Taslima to oust her from the country.

'When they could not utilize those thirty minutes to oust her from this world itself, what is the use to organize a campaign now? It is just like an embarrassed cat is scratching the pole. Religion is second to none to Mr. Asad.'

The Munsif does not have an English language edition. Its issue on August 11, however, carried an editorial, which deserves some notice. Titled, 'The Accursed Gustakh-e-Rasul Taslima Nasrin,' it begins by raising a question: 'What would a true Muslim do if he came face to face with a Gustakh-e-Rasul woman and there is no "security" to protect her?' While it explicitly recommends 'beating with shoes' and 'blackening the face,' it also uses innuendo and 'historical' references to suggest more severe actions. For Munsif, any 'protest' must be 'punitive.' It further points out that if the protesters were hesitant to attack a woman, they could have brought some of their own women with them--the MIM has its own 'women force' and women 'corporators'--and the latter could have made Taslima a target of their wrath.

A week later, on August 17 , Muslim leaders in Kolkata revived an old fatwa against her, urging her to leave the country and offering an unlimited amount of money to anybody who would kill her. On November 21, Kolkata witnessed a violent protest against Nasrin by . A protest organized by the "All India Minority Forum" caused riots in the city and forced the army's deployment to restore order. After the riots, Nasrin was forced to move from Kolkata, her "adopted city" to Jaipur, and to New Delhi the following day where she was kept under "house arrest" and forced to leave India on March 19, 2008.

A little background into why Taslima Nasrin has a fatwa on her head.


Indian Muslim group calls for beheading of writer Taslima Nasreen

LUCKNOW, Sunday, March 18, 2007

Nearly seven months after UP minister Haji Yakoob Qureshi raised a storm by announcing a reward on the heads of two Danish cartoonists for lampooning the Prophet, a little-known conservative Muslim group offered a 500,000 rupee (US $11,319) bounty for the beheading of controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen.

Khan said he had declared a reward of Rs 5 lakh for anyone who killed the "notorious woman". He claimed a core body of the board comprising 150 ulema, lawyers, retired IPS officers, doctors and professors had already passed a resolution to oust Nasreen from India. Khan enjoys wide support among the Barelvi sect and the issue is likely to generate heat in coming days, especially with assembly elections round the corner, observers said.

The president of the All India Ibtehad Council, Taqi Raza Khan, said he had declared the reward for anyone who carried out the "quatal" or "extermination" of the "notorious woman."

"Taslima has put Muslims to shame in her writing. She should be killed and beheaded and anyone who does this will get a reward from the council," he said in a statement received in Lucknow, capital of northern Uttar Pradesh state.

The council, based in the Uttar Pradesh town of Bareilly, is a splinter group of the influential All India Muslim Personal Law Board.

Khan said the only way the bounty would be lifted was if Nasreen "apologises, burns her books and leaves."

The bounty was not a fatwa as Khan, while a cleric, is not senior enough to issue Islamic decrees.

What has Nasreen done to ruffle this body? "Yeh aurat behad badzuban hai, aur Shariat par hamla karti rahi hai (this woman has a vicious tongue and has been attacking the Shariat)," said Khan.

Would the decision be reconsidered? Only if "woh mafi mangey, apni sari kitabein jalaye, aur tauba kare (she apologises, burns her books and leaves)," Khan said.

"We have been hearing that the Indian government is thinking of granting her citizenship. The idea is repugnant to all Allah-fearing Muslims. If the Indian government does not drive her out within 10 days, all hell will break lose," Khan threatened.

A reader's comment from the Times of India, that speaks volumes and to the point:

Arjun, 02 Mar, 2010

And the world will not dare say 'Freedom of Speech' when Muslims are involved. Then they will cover it by saying that they do not wish to hurt Muslim sentiments. Really? You cowards. I wonder where all the Intellectuals, secularists and human rights advocates are now.

Please join the campaign to "Save Taslima Nasrin From Islamic Death Fatwa in India"

'They could have even killed Taslima', say journalists

(IANS)

If Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen escaped unhurt in Thursday's attack by Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) legislators and cadre at the press club here, it was thanks to the Hindu journalists present there.

The journalists acted as a shield to save Taslima, who was targeted by MIM activists at a book release function.

Only six media persons, mostly photographers, were covering the function as the organisers had invited only a handful of people to the function and Taslima's visit was also kept under warps.

"The legislators and those accompanying them were ferocious. Had we not intervened things would have gone out of control," Ravikanth Reddy, correspondent The Hindu, told newspersons.

Reddy, also secretary of the Hyderabad Press Club, was attending a meeting of the club office bearers in the boardroom at the time when three MIM legislators along with a few supporters barged into the hall where the function was on.

"For half hour no policeman reached the place and it was very difficult to control the legislators and their supporters who were throwing everything they could lay their hands on," Reddy told IANS.

Some missiles hit the journalists and a couple of writers and other participants who stood between Taslima and the attackers.

Innaiah Narisetti of the Centre of Inquiry, the organisers of the book release function, bled after the attack along with K.V.S. Giri, a photographer of Deccan Chronicle.

"It is because of the presence of journalists that the legislators were a bit restrained but the mood of the others was nasty. One of them was shouting 'Kill her'," said Reddy, who had tried to pacify the legislators.

"I told them not to resort to such activities in the Press Club. We have let out the premises to an organisation and it was our responsibility to ensure that no harm was caused to the participants of the function," he said.

"Though we managed to push the legislators and some others out of the meeting hall and escorted Taslima to the store room, another group of people arrived and they were more aggressive," recalled H. Satish, photographer of The Hindu.

"Taslima requested us to call the police, and I told her that the police will be reaching in a few minutes," he said.

"Anything could have happened in those 30 minutes. Fortunately the crowd was not armed. We don't know but they could have even killed her," he said.

"She came behind me to protect herself. She was really scared," said K.V.S. Giri, who received minor injuries in the scuffle. "The attackers threw books kept on the dais at her and some hit me."

Innaiah Narisetti, who saved Taslima from several missiles, termed the attack as "shameful".

"It is shameful on the part of our legislators to resort to such use of abusive language and physically attack her. They took oath on the constitution of India but their behaviour was shocking," said the intellectual.

"The attack on a woman writer is shocking but I think this will not deter her from writing for the rights of women," said V. Komala, whose Telugu translations of Taslima's book "Shodh" and Jung Chang's bestseller "Wild Swans" were released by the novelist at the function.

Meanwhile, journalists took out a rally and demanded stern action against those involved in the attack on Taslima.

The three legislators and some others arrested by the police were granted bail late Thursday by a court.