The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : IT firm CEO slams terror allegations

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Sunday, Mar 02, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

IT firm CEO slams terror allegations

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: K.M. Sherif, Chief Executive Officer of iCalibrator Training Pvt. Ltd. has dismissed as “false and baseless” reports in a section of the press stating that he is on the run from the police and that the Muslim Information Technology Professionals’ Association (MITA), of which he is a member, is a terrorist organisation.

Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Sherif said he had filed a defamation case against the publication and was claiming Rs. 5 crore as damages. He also intended to complain to the Press Council of India. The report, he said, had done “irreparable damage” to him and his company’s reputation and had put his business in jeopardy.

He described MITA as an informal group comprising IT professionals involved in social work. It had sponsored the education of poor children and held career counselling sessions. “The organisation has never worked stealthily,” he asserted.

Condemning media reports on terrorism that did not check the veracity of information, he said they were published “without a thought about their impact on innocent people” and it was “up to the courts to judge”. “This report and similar reports have done irreparable damage to the career of all Muslim students aspiring to get into the IT industry and also those who are already working in IT firms by planting suspicion and mistrust in the minds of people,” he said.

‘Helping the deprived’

Rajendra Khare, an IT professional and a friend of Mr. Sherif’s, who also addressed the press conference, said the work that Mr. Sherif was doing was in “the national interest and in support of the deprived”. Such reports, he added, would prevent people from taking such initiatives.

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