Special Correspondent
PUNE—Kul Jamaat-e-Tanzeem, an umbrella body of Muslim organizations of the Pune city, held a demonstration at the District Collectorate on Wednesday afternoon against the arrest of UP cleric Maulana Kaleemuddin Siddiqui by the state Anti-Terrorist Squad.
The organization members comprising of all the prominent Muslim organizations held a media interaction at Patrasangha, condemning the UP government action and termed it “illegal and against the basic tenets of the Constitution.
Tanzeem Coordinator Zahid Shaikh said, “The arrest of Maulana Kaleemuddin Siddiqui aims to target the scholars of Islam and clerics as part of the right-wing policy of the UP government. His arrest is ‘undemocratic’ and ‘unconstitutional’. The charges of illegal funding and conversions carry no grain of truth and are atrocious. We will strongly protest against the communal UP government and submit a memorandum to the district collector,” he said.
SDPI Leader Azar Tamboli said, “The UP government has deliberately targeted the religious scholars considering the political dividend it wants to reap in the future. However, we will raise our voice through a democratic mode of protest so that the rightwing government stops such injustices being done to the Muslim community at the Centre and UP. We demand that fake cases lodged against the clerics be withdrawn immediately. This incident is a pre-planned conspiracy to hide the failures of the UP government by resorting to the lodging of false cases and building a false narrative through propaganda for political benefits,” he reiterated. The organizations which participated in the protest include the Popular Front of India, All India Imam’s Council, Action Committee, Jamat-e-Islami Hind, The Muslim Foundation, Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Seerat Committee, and other like-minded groups.
In a detailed media release, the organization stated that Maulana Kaleem Siddiqui was arrested by the UP ATS and jailed on trumped-up charges. “Maulana Siddiqui is an international scholar known for his mastery and fluency of the Arabic language. He is acclaimed all over the country for his scholarship and Islamic knowledge. However, the UP government wants to spread terror amongst the country’s Muslim population by resorting to false arrest by lodging fake cases in the name of conversions. We have appealed for their immediate release and withdrawal of the concocted cases,” the release added.
