Kerala - Alappuzha   

Justice should prevail, says Geelani

Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani appeals to the media to uphold human rights.

ALAPPUZHA: Justice to all, irrespective of caste and religion, is the ultimate solution to terrorism, according to Delhi University lecturer and human rights activist Syed Abdul Rehman Geelani.

Terming the Mumbai terror attack ‘inhuman’ and a ‘dastardly act against humanity,’ Mr. Geelani told reporters here on Friday that the situations one picked up the gun had to be analysed and addressed to if an everlasting solution to terrorism was to be evolved. The development of a country could be possible only if there was peace. And for peace to prevail, justice — political, social and economic — had to be ensured.

Mr. Geelani was here to address a public meeting on human rights, which was denied permission on security grounds by the police.

He said a massive witch-hunt was on in the background of recent terrorist activities with a particular community being targeted. The truth was that no religion or civilized community would permit terrorism. If one community was targeted, that would alienate that community and tarnish the fabric of society, he said.

“Unfortunately, that is happening. It has become a common trend of investigating agencies to attribute every terrorist act to SIMI or the Lashkar-e-Taiba or any other organisation that is purported to have Muslim connections. But the developments after the Malegaon blast have shown that these acts are not religion-specific,” he said.

“Definitely, there is bias among intelligence agencies and the same is obvious from the functioning of the police. They should not succumb to political pressure.” Stating that the best test of a democracy was how the minorities in that country felt, Mr. Geelani said that Muslims and of late Christians in the country were feeling insecure.

Mr. Geelani, who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in the Parliament attack case, said political parties had different yardsticks for different communities. The Sangh Parivar and the Bharatiya Janata Party were arguing for human rights for Malegaon blast accused sadhvi Pragya Thakur Singh and opposed narco analysis on her, but did not raise their voice when several Kashmiri youth were subjected to the same test several times over. This kind of approach would only tarnish the secular fabric of the country, he said calling upon the media to play a larger role in bringing out the truth and to uphold human rights.

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