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“My father is innocent”, says Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi’s son

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Syed Fauzan Shah Qasmi (Extreme left).

Syed Fauzan Shah Qasmi (Extreme left).

Bengaluru: Syed Fauzan Shah Qasmi, the eldest son of Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi told Nasheman.in that his father is innocent, and his arrest is based on baseless allegations. Moulana Anzar Shah was arrested on Jan 6th by Delhi Special Cell on allegations that he is linked to Al Qaeda.

He said while it’s true that Moulana Anzar Shah was ruthless in his speeches, and there are many within the community, who were irked by his words, but never has he made any speech against the country. “Being an Imam, he used  to give bayans (sermons) urging Muslims to follow the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet, just like every other imam. The only difference was in his style of speech”.

Ever since his arrest, Fauzan says, his father has been calling them every alternate day, and has assured the family that he is fine, and there is nothing to worry about. Fauzan told Nasheman.in, that many Muslim religious leaders, including the President of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Maulana Syed Arshad Madani, have come forward to offer assistance. Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind has also appointed M S Khan, a Delhi-based advocate, to follow up the case of the Maulana.

Fauzan said that he has faith in the law of the land, and said justice will be provided to his father. However, he also objected to the manner, the arrest took place and the manner in which he is being portrayed by the media.

“My father is a well-known Islamic scholar. The media, even before any evidence is produced against him, has already labelled him a terrorist, which is absolutely unacceptable,” he protested.

He said this is an attempt to malign the Muslim community and demanded an impartial investigation in the matter.

“Arrest of Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi a character assassination attempt”: Umar Shariff, DIET

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Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi

Bengaluru: The arrest of Bengaluru-based Imam, Maulana Anzar Shah Qasmi over alleged links to Al Qaeda, has united Muslim clerics across India.

On Monday, more than 150 Muslim clerics and heads of mosques and madrasas across Karnataka held a meeting at the Eidgah grounds and decided to extend him all possible legal help.

On the direction of President Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Maulana Syed Arshad Madani, Secretary Jamiat Ulema Maharashtra Legal Aid Committee Gulzar Azmi has requested M S Khan, a Delhi-based advocate, to follow up the case of Maulana Anzar Shah.

Today at a press conference organised in support of the fireband Moulana Mr. Umar Shariff, president of Discover Islam Educational Trust (DIET) expressed his detestation over the manner the Moulana was arrested.

“Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi is a well-known and respected Islamic scholar and the way he is being paraded as a criminal without any evidence, shows the absolute disregard for the sentiments of the Muslims and even the law,” he said.

He said, the media has become the new judges, where they term any and everyone as a ‘terrorist’, even before the court of law passes its judgement.

Talking about the Moulana, he said he is been under the watch of the police for years. “His fiery speeches is well-known in the community, if was the member or recruiter for Al Qaeda, how did it go unnoticed by the police for all these years”.

He also quoted Police Commissioner N.S. Megharik, who had earlier said that although he was under watch for his speeches, “but do not have any evidence that he was involved in terrorism”.

Mr. Sharifff said his arrest is an attempt of character assassination, and the community will stand by the Moulana.

Muslim clerics rubbish terror link allegations on Qasmi; demand CM’s intervention

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Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi

Bengaluru: More than 150 Muslim clerics and heads of mosques and madarsas across Karnataka held a meeting at Eidgah grounds in Bengaluru to discuss the arrest of Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi, and decided to extend legal help for his release.

The clerics who believe that Khasmi cannot involve in any terror activity, decided to submit a representation to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Home Minister G. Parameshwara seeking their intervention for a fair probe.

Expressing doubt over his arrest procedures, the members said the Delhi police linking him to the terrorist outfit was not reasonable.

“We do not support anti-national activities and the manner in which he was arrested and portrayed as a terror suspect merely on suspicion is very disturbing,” Syed Shafiulla, convener of the meeting, said.

Even the city Police Commissioner admitted that they did not have information pointing to his involvement in anti-national activities, they said.

His arrest has caused resentment among the youth of the community and we have appealed to them to keep calm, while legal course to secure Qasmi’s release will start at the earliest, they added.

One of those present at the meeting said, “We have seen and have worked with Shah from many years. As we know, he was never involved in anti-national activities. His arrest has really shocked us. Bengaluru City police commissioner N S Megharikh had also stated that they did not have any information about him being involved in terror activities. Shah was following Islam, but he never created disharmony nor was he linked with terror outfits.”

(Agencies)

Terror link: No evidence against Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi, says Bengaluru police chief

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Maulana Anzar Shah

Bengaluru: Bengaluru police have admitted that they do not have any evidence against Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi, a cleric, who was picked up by the Delhi police on Wednesday for alleged ‘terror links’ and ‘hate speeches’.

 

However, the city police had been keeping an eye on him for past several months, according to Police Commissioner N.S. Megharik.

“He was under watch for his hate speeches but the police were not aware of his terror links. We do not even have any evidence that he was involved in terrorism,” the top cop clarified. He also justified the decision of Delhi police to arrest him based on the evidence gathered by Delhi police.

A senior official said that the jurisdictional Kumaraswamy Layout police used to monitor him and prepared a dossier about his activities.

“The police had even met members of the mosque committee and sought details about him. But before the dossier was submitted, the Delhi Police picked him up since they had concrete evidence about his terror links,” the officer said.

Qasmi, who hails from Shivajinagar in Bengaluru, had had studied in Deoband in Uttar Pradesh for two years before starting his career. He served as imam and khatib in various mosques.

He is married and has two sons and a daughter. One son is married and the other is studying in a madrasa. Qasmi lived in Hegde Nagar on Tannery Road before moving to a house he built in Ilyas Nagar recently.

Nayaz Pasha, the head of Makkah Masjid in Banashankari, where Qasmi was a preacher, said that the mosque committee had strictly instructed him to deliver sermons based only on the Qur’an and not to target other religions. Some women had objected to his views about the fairer sex and lodged a complaint at the Tilak Nagar police station.

He would often tour Chennai, Mysuru, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Jharkhand and other parts of the country to make speeches.

(Agencies)

Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi arrested by police, allege terror links

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Maulana Anzar Shah

Bengaluru: A 50-year-old Muslim cleric from Bengaluru, who was picked up from a team of the Delhi Police Special Cell for unknown reasons, is now reportedly facing terror charges.

Moulana Anzar Shah Qasmi (50) a resident of Ilyas Nagar in Banashankari 2nd Stage in Bengaluru South was reportedly arrested on charges of making hate speeches and having links with a terrorist organisation in Pakistan, according to a few media reports.

Qasmi was at the house of one of his students in Ilyas Nagar at 9.30 pm on Wednesday for dinner when he was called out by some men. They claimed to be from the ATS and wanted to ask him a few questions. Qasmi  informed his student Mohammed Asif that he would return in some time, but was not to be seen.

Residents set out on a search of the moulvi. On not finding him, they filed a missing complaint with the K.S. Layout police on Thursday morning. A local autorickshaw driver Jabbar is also missing.

Qasmi was preacher in Makkah mosque in Banashankari for the past four years. He had shifted to Ilyas Nagar a month ago.

“We do not know why he was taken or whether they were really policemen,” Mr. Asif told media persons, adding that the moulvi was popular in the area.

The mosque committee is contemplating legal action to trace the moulvi, he said.

Meanwhile, a senior police officer confirmed that the 50-year-old moulvi had been picked up by Delhi police, but refused to elaborate on the charges under which he had been detained.

(Agencies)

 

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