MUMBAI: A month after the Malegaon serial blasts, which killed 31 people and injured over 200, the power loom town's residents are demanding that the inquiry be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

At a meeting organised by the Citizens for Justice and Peace here on Tuesday, Shafique Ahmed, who lost his young son in the blasts and returned the compensation cheque in protest, said no senior State leader visited the town since the blasts although national leaders like Congress president Sonia Gandhi had come. He asked why the police targeted his brethren while the real culprits had not been caught. Malegaon was an abandoned town. "Those who hold the string controlling our future have let it go. We are like a kati patang [broken kite]."

The meeting, presided over by retired Justice B. G. Kolse Patil, addressed the theme: Malegaon bomb blasts: Who is to blame?

"Publish white paper"

Maulana Abdul Hameed Azhari of the Maulana Azad Research Centre in Malegaon was critical of both the media and the police. Some newspapers reported that the blasts could have been the outcome of intra-religious disputes in the town. Even if there were differences between the different sects of Muslims, there had never been a violent clash between them in the past. "Our people have become the target of the police. We have come to you on behalf of Malegaon's people. We want the CBI to investigate." He also demanded a white paper on all the blasts that occurred since 1992 and the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Maulana Azhari and other speakers asked why the police questioned only members of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) in connection with the Mumbai and Malegaon blasts.

Naseem Siddiqui, Chairman of the State Minorities Commission, said: "All the blasts cannot just be the work of those outside this country."

He echoed the opinion of other speakers when he suggested that members of organisations such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, who spread hatred against the minorities, should also be questioned.

Prejudice, neglect

Teesta Setalvad, human rights activist and editor of Communalism Combat, said durable peace was not possible without justice.

But justice also meant social justice.

Socio-economic issues

In her study of places such as Godhra in Gujarat and Malegaon and Bhiwandi in Maharashtra, she had observed that whenever a town became Muslim majority, there was "institutionalised prejudice and civic neglect." There were also socio-economic questions that needed to be tackled.

Discriminatory justice

Ms. Setalvad spoke of "discriminatory justice" and pointed out that despite the Justice Srikrishna report on the 1992-93 riots, no action was taken against 31 policemen named in the report.

Only one was removed from service, two were suspended and two had their pay cut for six months.

The rest continued in service, often in the same localities where they had been posted during the riots.

The media should ask why nothing was being done on this and also why a month after the blasts, the police had not been able to catch the culprits responsible for the Malegaon blasts.

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