Karnataka Muslim Council to protest arrest of 'innocents'

Bangalore, Feb 29 (UNI) The Karnataka Muslim Council (KMC), a non-party organisation working to empower minorities in the state has opposed the arrest of 'innocent youths' in the name of terrorism.

Speaking to newsperson here today, KMC Chairman and former Union minister C M Ibrahim said that while Muslims would welcome any act of curbing the menace of terrorist linked activities, they would resent any attempt to harass the innocent youths of their community.

He said KMC had no objection to Karnataka police had arrested seven persons and sent them to jail on the suspicion of aiding and abetting terrorism. However it would be wrong to arrest innocent youths and let them off after subjecting them for adverse media exposure, he said.

Accusing that there was no correlation between the statement of the police and the media reports on the recent arrest of Muslim youths allegedly involving in disruptive activities, Mr Ibrahim demanded the state police to come out clean on the issue of detention and release of innocent persons.

"Innocent youths who were wrongly held over suspicion and then let off without giving clean chit by the police would leave indelible scar for the rest of their life," he said.

He urged the minorities to take care of their youth and ensure they do not trudge the path of terrorism. At the same time the state police to take local Muslims into confidence in collecting information and data on the disruptive activities.

On the Assembly elections in Karnataka Mr Ibrahim strongly opposed to hold it in a hurry and urged CEC to correct large scale of irregularities found in the electoral list. He also announced that KMC would approach Supreme Court against holding the elections without making any efforts to remove anomalies in the electoral list.

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