Muslim leaders urge PM to check harassment of Muslims

New Delhi, Sep 10 (UNI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today assured a delegation of Muslim leaders that he would consider setting up of a commission or some mechanism to go into the allegations of harassment of Muslims in the name of controlling terrorism so as to to instill a sense of security in the community.

The demand for such a mechanism was made by the delegation led by Shahi Imam Syed Ahmad Bukhari in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister in a half an hour-long meeting with him.

The Prime Minister said he would consult his colleagues in connection with the proposal.

Dr Singh said he fully realised the fact that there were cases in which minorities were targeted in the name of fighting terrorism and the whole community was being looked at with suspicion.

Regarding the arrest of Abulbashar and Shahbaaz on the charge of masterminding the Ahmedabad bomb blast, he said he would call for a report from the Home Ministry.

The Muslim leaders in their memorandum to the Prime Minister said they were extremely concerned over the fact that hundreds of Muslim youth had been put behind bars without any proof of having links wih a banned organisation.

On the other hand, they said, the police and the administration were lax in taking action against organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal.

They demanded a high-level inquiry into the role of these bodies and other communal outfits in the terror incidents of Kanpur, Jammu, Orissa, Nanded, Parbhani and Malegaon.

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