There are terror modules in the country with members “willing to fulfil Nathuram Godse’s dream”, Hyderabad Parliamentarian Asaduddin Owaisi has said.
Mr.Owaisi was speaking at the Jalsa Youm-ul-Quran on Jumatul Vida, the last Friday of Ramzan, at Mecca Masjid, a historic mosque in Hyderabad that was the site of a terror attack in 2007.
Quoting media reports about three youth involved in the killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed in Prayagraj on April 15, Mr.Owaisi claimed the trio were trained professionals. “The three killers are Godse’s illegitimate children,” he said, adding, “These three are members of a terror cell. I have a suspicion that there are people in our country, I do not know how many, who have been trained, and given weapons, and have been told to fulfil Godse’s dream.”
Mr.Owaisi said while the shooters reportedly claimed that they sought fame by gunning down Atiq and Ashraf Ahmed, that was not the case. “They said they wanted fame. This is not becoming famous. This is, in fact, a group called a terror cell. This is a terror cell,” Mr. Owaisi said, adding that the three gunmen were terrorists and part of a terror module. He said it was possible that people of this module would kill more people.
The AIMIM supremo demanded to know why the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act was not slapped on the three accused. He described radicalisation as a process that would eat the country from within.
Touching upon the comments of former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik in a recent interview, Mr.Owaisi accused him of “playing Holi with the blood of CRPF jawans” in Pulwama. He said that instead of speaking now, Mr.Malik should have relinquished his post in the aftermath of the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were martyred, and clearly said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was responsible for the deaths of the soldiers.
Mr.Owaisi recalled that on May 18, 2007, a bomb went off in the Mecca Masjid killing several people. In the aftermath, police opened fire on the restive crowd, killing many more. He said a court had acquitted all accused, including Swami Aseemanand, but sought to know why the government did not file an appeal against the order. “Modi said we will not do it,” he said.
On the Bhaskara Rao Commission, which then prepared a report on the police firing after the Mecca Masjid blast, Mr.Owaisi demanded that the Telangana government make the document public.
