Muslim groups resent forced eviction from relief camps

Uttar Pradesh government’s attempts to ‘force’ the displaced riot victims to vacate the relief camps in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli districts has triggered widespread resentment among Muslim groups and rights activists.

Muslim groups and rights activists have strongly condemned the ‘forced eviction’ and demanded that it be stopped forthwith.

They have also asked the government to make alternative arrangements for the victims before evicting them from the camps.

Several Muslim leaders, including office-bearers of Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind who visited the relief camps on Saturday, decried the eviction and said the district administration had failed to safeguard lives and properties of the victims.

“We will strongly protest eviction of the displaced riot victims,” said the leaders. Ulema Council, another Muslim outfit has warned UP government that it will hold demonstrations across the state if forced eviction was not stopped immediately.

The Council chief Amir Rashadi also threatened to launch a hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in Delhi to register protest against the eviction.

Serious impact

Another Muslim outfit Millat Bedari Muhim Committee also slammed the Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav for forcing the victims to leave the camps in bitter cold and warned that it might have serious ramifications.

The Rights groups have also decried the move without making ‘alternative arrangements’ for the victims.

“It amounts to second displacement of the victims. They were first displaced from their native villages and now they are being evicted from the camps,” said Madhavi Kuckreja, a Rights activist here.

Various Rights groups and social organisations have planned a public meeting in Lucknow on Monday to register protest. Some of the victims will also attend the meeting.

Govt in a spot

Resentment among Muslim community has put the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in a difficult situation.

“The relief camps have become a real pain,” commented a senior party leader here. Many party leaders felt that the matter could well turn out to be a poll issue and cost the party dear in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The administration in Muzaffarnagar had moved in with sudden alacrity after the SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav took a tough stand on continuance of the relief camps and alleged that those living there were in fact ‘people of the congress and BJP’.

As many as 62 people were killed and over one hundred injured in the communal violence that had rocked the district in September this year. Over 45,000 people were displaced by the riots and had taken shelter in various relief camps.