MANGALURU: Various Muslim bodies have termed the killing of two persons in police firing during the protests against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) in Mangaluru, as ‘pre-planned murders’ by the BJP government.
Addressing a joint press meet at Al-Ihsan masjid at Vas Lane, from where the bodies were shifted for burial after prayers, the representatives of Jamat-e-Islam, Highland Islamic Forum, SDPI, PFI and others opined that Thursday’s situation did not warrant lathi-charge and ‘golibaar’ (firing) as the people who had gathered for protest were not more than 100.
Umar U H, president of Muslim Writers Forum, said the heavy deployment of police in the city on Thursday morning had led them to worry and their fears turned true as the day progressed. He accused police of unleashing violence on people in the name of restoring law and order and demanded a judicial enquiry.
Advocate and Popular Front of India member Ashrak K Adnad said that as per police manual, the cops should have first asked the protesters to disperse using a megaphone and then resorted to a mild lathi-charge.
Instead, he alleged that the police resorted to a full-fledged lathi-charge suddenly, targetting vital parts of the body. This sudden police excess made the youths to revolt.
Denying Police Commissioner P S Harsha’s allegation that agitators attacked the Mangaluru North police station and even tried to kill cops, he said when no cop has suffered injury on vital body parts, how can it be an attempt to murder?
He said if the intention was to contain the riot, there would have been no deaths. Another religious leader Mohammed Kunhi said religious leaders during Friday prayers have appealed to people to maintain peace.