HYDERABAD: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday appealed to the Supreme Court to take suo moto cognizance of the killing of Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf, in Prayagraj, and form a committee to investigate the case in a time-bound manner. “Encounter killings will weaken the country and they have to stop forever,” he said.
“It was a cold-blooded murder. The assailants bore the firearms with precision and they did not miss the target.” He was speaking at a press conference at his party office here in the city. Alleging that the people from the majority community were getting radicalised, the Hyderabad MP said: “Who are these people and what slogans are they raising?”
“If you are not calling them terrorists, then what will you call them? Will you call them desh bhakts (patriots),” he sought to know. The AIMIM chief alleged that the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh was not running the State by “the rule of law”, but “rule by the gun”.He said that gunning down people would erode the trust in the democratic governments and judiciary among law-abiding citizens. Owaisi wondered how the assailants got hold of the firearms, if they didn’t have the support of the government. He said that the role of the BJP government needed to be probed.
“Who are these people who killed them in the presence of police and media? Who directed them to kill? How did they get there? Why didn’t the police stop them or open fire? I also know how to fire as I took training under an expert for my self-defence. The way they handled the gun clearly shows that they are professionals,” he said and demanded the resignation of UP CM Yogi Adityanath and the removal of police officers escorting slain Atiq and Ashraf.