By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: When Union Minority Affairs Minister A R Antulay today said Maharashtra ATS Chief Hemant Karkare might have been killed due to his investigation of the Malegaon blasts he must be knowing he was raising a big storm in the political corridors, as he was the first leader to touch the issue.
As expected, the parties whose interests were hit by Karkare’s Malegaon probe came down heavily on Antulay. The BJP and Shiv Sena members made hue and cry in the Parliament and asked the Prime Minister to explain the government’s stand on the issue.
Earlier in the day talking to reporters in Delhi Antulay had said that Hemant Karkare was a “victim of terrorism plus something” and that his killing on November 26 during the Mumbai terror attacks could be linked to his probe into the Malegaon blasts. “Karkare found that there are non-Muslims involved in the acts of terrorism during his investigations in some cases. Any person going to the roots of terror has always been the target,” IANS quoted Antulay as saying.
The BJP lambasted the Minority Affairs Minister for his statement and asked the government to explain its position. Succumbing to the pressure the Congress came out distancing itself from Antulay’s statement. Congress spokesman Ashok Singhvi said the party doesn’t support Antulay’s views on Karkare’s death.
But Muslim leaders have come out supporting Antulay’s views. They say Hemant Karkare’s death is still a mystery. It has something to do with the Malegaon blast probe that Karkare was doing. And a proper and separate investigation into Karkare’s death (Antulay’s demand) should be conducted.
While supporting Antulay’s views, Zafarul Islam Khan, president, All India Muslim Majlise Mushawarat, said the Hindutva terror groups are apparently the beneficiary of Karkare’s death as he was exposing their involvement in some terrorist attacks in the country.
Karkare’s probe into Malegaon blast had exposed the face of Hindutva terrorism. Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, Lt Colonel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, Swami Dayanand Pandey and some others were arrested and put behind bars.
“Soon after the Mumbai attack and Karkare’s killing the first-page news about Hindutva terrorism has gone missing” Khan told TwoCircles.net.
Some days before the Mumbai attack, Karkare was threatened to be killed and his house burnt, Zafarul Islam Khan said and demanded high-level enquiry into Karkare’s killing.
Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani, general secretary, Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind has also demanded proper investigation into Karkare’s death as the circumstances in which he was killed are still not very clear.
The exposure of Sadhvi, Purohit and others in terrorist activities had convinced people that terrorism has nothing to do with religion and terrorists can also be Hindus but the Mumbai attacks have again altered the scene, Nomani told TCN.
Hemant Karkare was doing a brave work by bringing to the nation truth behind terrorist activities in India, he added.
On why Congress distanced itself from Antulay’s statement, he said there hardcore communal elements in the Congress also and they do not want Muslims come out of the blame of terrorism.
Mujtaba Farooq, political affairs secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said that only a fair probe into Karkare’s death will instill confidence in honest and brave officers who do their job without fear and favor.
Karkare was fearlessly exposing faces behind terrorist attacks in the country and he was killed in mysterious circumstances during the Mumbai attacks. Soon after he exposed Hindutva terrorism he was being threatened by those who were being affected by his probe. If a fair probe is not conducted, his killing will down the morale of other officers, Farooq told TCN.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board member Dr Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas said that mystery of Karkare’s death should be removed. For his role in Malegaon probe which exposed Hindutva terrorism he was getting threats and during the attack he was killed.
“There is no denying the fact that his death has very much related to the Malegaon probe and thus his death should be properly investigated into,” Dr Ilyas said.