Bangalore: The story of terrorism being connected to the Muslims is never ending. To the joy of Muslim folks, the youth who are allegedly connected to terrorism are being freed after legal procedures on one side, whereas to their dismay it can be seen in various states that the police are all over again busy in arresting some other Muslim youths in the name of terrorism. The delighted Indian Muslims who were rejoicing the exculpation of Faheem Ansari and Sabahuddin from the charges of Mumbai blasts from the Supreme Court on Wednesday, got the big time shock when eleven Muslims youths were arrested in Bangalore and Hubli accusing them of being connected with Lashkar-e – Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami.

The Central Crime Branch of the Bangalore police has arrested some eleven youths from Bangalore and Hubli claiming that they were involved in a plan which included the murder of some important political personalities of town, the heads of Hindu committees and some media people, and has alleged that these arrested youth have connections with the banned organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami. The director General of State Police, Mr. Lalrokhuma Pachau and the City Police Commissioner, Jyothi Prakash Mirji had announced the arrest of these eleven youths in a joint press conference on Thursday, claiming that these arrests have put an end to some big disaster. Police Commissioner Jyothi Prakash mirji has also declared that a 7.65 mm pistol of foreign origin has been found with one of the arrested persons from Bangalore. Among the arrested, is a journalist Muteeurrahman Siddiqui from a famous English news paper who has been blamed as a terrorist. The police are considering these arrests as a huge achievement.

The CCB team arrested some six persons from a house in Kempayya Block of Mubarak Mohalla, which comes under the limits of JC Nagar Police Station, namely, Shuaib Ahmed Mirza alias Chotu(25), Abdullah alias Abdul Hakeem Jamedar(25), Ajaz Muhammed Mirza(25), Muhammed Yusuf Nalband(28), Riyaz Ahmed Baihati(28), and Muteeurrahman Siddiqui(26). Whereas, the persons arrested from Hubli were Imran Bahadur alias Sammer alias Imran(24), Muhammed Sadique Lashkar alias Raju(28), Wahid Hussain alias Saleh(26), Baba alias Mehboob Bagalkot(26) and Dr. Jafar iqbal Sholapur(27). The police alleges that these people were involved in a plot of killing some important personalities of Karnataka, MLA’s and MP’s, heads of Hindu organizations and also some media persons, with the orders from the heads of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Harkat-ul-Jihad Islami who are located in Saudi Arabia. The CCB kept an eye on their actions after the information was received and arrested them on the right time. The police commissioner has informed that they have been charged under 120B, 153B, 307, 379 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under Unlawful Assembly And Arms Act and were arrested at Basweshwara nagar police station in Bangalore.

Replying to the query whether these alleged terrorists have connections with any previous cases, the police commissioner said that they have not yet received any information about their connections in any previous case.

Statement by Home Minister

The Home Minister R Ashok confirming the arrests of eleven persons has said that they were plotting to target some important personalities of state as well as some media persons. He further stated that their plan included the assassination of BJP member of council and the head Vijayavani newspaper as well as VRL group, Vijay Shankeshwar, the editor in chief of Swarna news Vishweshwar Bhat and the editor in chief of Kannada Prabha Pratab Sinha. He also claimed that the alleged terrorists received funds from the international terrorist network to work on the plots.

Outcry from parents

Speaking to press persons, the father of one of the alleged, Ajaz Muhammed Mirza(25) claimed that his son was innocent and he was working as a junior engineer in Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). He said his son had been framed as part of a larger conspiracy. He also said that all the arrests were baseless and with the co ordination from all the parents the legal actions would be carried out against the police.

The head of department of Human Rights of Jamat e Islami Hind, Mr. Irshad Ahmed has said that the police have gone against the law by not informing the parents of arrested persons even after 36 hours after their arrests. The legal actions would be surely taken after discussing the matter with all the parents. Speaking about the arrest of the journalist Muteeurrahman, he said that he was an able journalist and was surely trapped as a part of greater conspiracy.