The arrest of a Hyderabad-based Islamic scholar, Moulana Mohammed Abdul Qavi, by Gujarat’s anti-terrorist squad has evoked a strong condemenation from several Muslim organisations including Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind.
An all-Muslim organisations meeting, presided over by secretary, All India Muslim Peronsal law Board Moulana Abdul Raheem Qureshi, said that the arrest of a respected Islamic scholar on “trumped up charges” smacks of deep political conspiracy to gain electoral mileage.
“Moulana Qavi was picked up under Draconian Pota Act in connection with 2003 case. All the other accused, including the Hyderabad-based cleric Moulana Naseeruddin, were acquitted in this case long ago. Why he is picked up now, just before the elections,” asked Khaleeq Sabir, State secretary of Jamiatul Ulema-e-Hind of which Moulana Qavi was vice-president.
Moulana Qavi’s name figures as accused number 42 in a 2003 conspiracy case to kill Gujarat Chief Minister Narendar Modi. His name was added on a statement of a secret witness who later backed out.
While the Gujarat Crime Branch had shown Moulana Qavi as absconding in the case, Sabir pointed out that he was not only present here but also visited Surat and other places in Gujarat ten months back.
Qavi was picked up by ATS at New Delhi Airport on Sunday when he arrived there enroute to Deoband where he was to attend a religious seminar. After taking him in to custody, Gujarat team took him to Ahmedabad where a local court remanded him to police custody till April 7. Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen cheif and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi held the Centre and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde responsible.