All India Secular Forum statement condemning violence in Faizabad

26 October 2012

All India Secular Forum

We condemn the attack on Mosque, the office of Aapki Takat and Shops of Muslims in Faizabad

On 24 October 2012, when the immersion procession of Durga was going on, a girl was molested by few miscreants. Making this as a pretext few people started stone throwing in the nearby areas. A rumor also spread in Faizabad that Muslims are doing the stone throwing. The mob went on to burn nearly 25 shops of Muslim traders. They also rampaged the office of bilingual (Urdu and Hindi) paper Aap Ki Takat. This paper is continuously giving the message of Peace and calling for Hindu-Muslim unity. They also rampaged the mosque.

According to local activist Yugal Kishore Sharan Shastri, this was a pre-planned attack. The editor of the paper Mehdi Manjar feels, this is an attempt to silence the voice of Peace. The police took long time to reach the spot and did not intervene effectively. Similarly the fire brigade also took four hours to reach, by which time the shops were totally destroyed.

Faizabad, neighboring Ayodhya, is a symbol of Peace. The act of communal forces in targeting the shops of Muslims, the mosque and the office of Aap ki Takat, is highly condemnable. We appeal to the local and state administration to bring in peace and to rehabilitate the violence victims on urgent basis. The owners of shops and the office of paper, Aap ki Takat, must be totally compensated for immediately. Strict action is needed against the police officials for neglect of their duty and also against the fire brigade for such a lapse on their part. The guilty must be punished with the due process of law

Asghar Ali Engineer, L.S. Hardenia, Ram Puniyani, Irfan Engineer Mohammad Arif

All India Secular Forum