Day before Memon hanging, Muslim outfits to hold protest

“If innocents are killed, the guilty should not be spared. But over 2,000 innocent lives were also lost in the Mumbai riots. The perpetrators are still free. Justice can’t have two faces. It needs to be same for everyone and for that reason, we are seeking implementation of the Srikrishna Commission report,” said Maulana Mehmood Dariyabadi, general secretary of the All India Ulema Council.

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Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Asim Azmi claimed that the 1993 bomb blast was a “reaction to an action”.

He also suggested that the 93 blast conspirators were akin to freedom fighters who had killed General Dyer to avenge the Jalianwala Bagh massacre.

“When Dyer killed innocents, the right thing would have been to complain to the British government. However, knowing that there was no point in speaking to an unresponsive government, our freedom fighters killed Dyer. When justice is not done, there will be a reaction to an action,” Azmi said.

“No one in this country should feel that one’s religion plays a part in how we are viewed by the law,” Azmi said.

Local clerics also claimed that the non-implementation of the Srikrishna Commission report was a black spot on India’s secular democratic nature. “If the report is not implemented, then the future of this country is bleak,” said Abdul Hafeez Farroqui of the Jamaat-e-Islami (Hind).

The Srikrishna Commission had been set up to find the causes of the 1992-93 riots and the subsequent bomb blasts. In its report, the Commission had named 31 police officers of different ranks for killing Muslims and had recommended action against them. However no action was taken by subsequent governments.

The Commission had also taken the names of Shiv Sena leaders. However, no one was prosecuted.

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