MIM president and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi has defended his party’s decision to extend legal assistance to the five persons arrested by the NIA on charges of conspiracy to carry out terror attacks.
At the same time he urged the media not to blow the matter out of proportions.
A day after his speech at Mecca Masjid charging the NIA with double standards in dealing with terror charges Owaisi said that the media was making a big issue of his offer.
Owaisi pointed out that in his speech he strongly condemned ISIS as terrorist organisation for 20 minutes. “But you didn’t carry it”.
He appealed to the media not to generalise and blame the whole Muslim community and the south Hyderabad. “People of all communities are living peacefully in south Hyderabad (old city)”, he said.
On the issue of legal aid to the arrested persons he said there was nothing wrong in it. “If we don’t give them help the court will give them the legal assistance. This is how justice works. This is part of democratic system. let the court decide”.
He condemned the attitude of presuming everybody guilty as soon as he was arrested. “Then what is the need of the courts of law”, he wondered.
Continuing his criticism of the NIA’s handling of terror cases Owaisi said it was not consistent. He questioned why NIA did not appeal against bail to Mecca Masjid blast case accused Aseemanand and Malegaon blast case accused Pragya Thakur.