Click to play videoBangalore: The Federation of Muslim NGOs in Bangalore are alleging that terror investigations by the police are making the community members feel alienated and victimised.
It started last year July with the investigations into the alleged role of Mohammed Haneef in the UK terror plot. Then last month police arrested Bangalore engineer Yahya Kammukutty suspecting him of terror links.
With the police now intensifying searches, members of the minority community feel victimised. More so after children in a madrassa in Hassan were recently questioned by state police.
“This has come to the climax after a raid of a Muslim educational institution Mansoor Arabic College in Hasan, when some officers of the Corps of Detectives have interrogated not just the principal and teachers but also young children were paraded and interrogated by the police,” President of Jammat-e-Islami Hind in Bangalore, Dr Belgami Mohammed Saad said.
Muslim IT professionals in Bangalore bear the brunt of the terror investigations, especially since the arrested Yahya was believed to have links with the Muslim IT professional association, MITA.
The techies face, apart from the police, a hypersensitive professional community where even small prejudices could cost job opportunities. The fear is now spreading down among the student community.
“Students have fled their homes and hostels. People are cleaning up bookshelves so that there isn’t anything Muslim or Islamic. That is the sort of scare the community is feeling,” Representative of the Bangalore Islamic Foundation Dr Mateen said.
Community leaders are especially upset with Corps of Detectives, a sort of state version of the CBI, which is leading the investigations.
While the police say the charges of prejudice are baseless, they now face increasing distrust from the community organisations.
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