Owaisi’s AIMIM to support Muslims ‘harassed’ by Adityanath’s HYV

Meanwhile, HYV has given a call for holding a Hindu mahapanchayat on March 2 if their worker Digvijay Kishore Shahi is not given possession of the disputed land.

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“Our delegation will reach Madhopur tomorrow. We will meet the Muslim families. They have been tortured by HYV. We will also meet the district administration demanding action against HYV leaders,” Shaukat Ali, state convenor, AIMIM, told The Indian Express. He said that reports by the AIMIM team will be sent to Owaisi for deciding future course of action. “We cannot tolerate harassment of Muslims by HYV in the region anymore,” he said.

On the other hand, the district administration claimed that no Muslim families, except those named in the FIR lodged by the Hindus, have ran away. Locals, however, claimed most of the Muslim houses are still locked and only 15 persons have returned so far.

“I had gone to the village today. Ten males, three females and two boys had come to the village to take stock of the situation. By evening, the women and the boys had left again,” Mohammad Anwar Siddiqui, a social worker in Kushinagar told The Indian Express. He also claimed that administration had asked him to avoid visiting village.

“The clash is between two persons and not two communities. Firstly, all Muslim families have not left and only five of them who are named in the FIR escaped. We have decided to implement a compromise formula. Ameen, of one group, will be given land in one corner, while Digvijay Kishore Shahi, of the other group, will be given land in another corner. Separate roads will be constructed for these communities in order to avoid confrontation,” S P Shukla, sub-divisional magistrate Tamkuhiraj area told The Indian Express. Ameen and Shahi are the two people who are party to the land dispute.

Shukla also visited the village with the formula of separating the passage and offering separate lands, but could not convince the villagers.

“There were no men from Ameen’s side present in the village… I will visit the village again on February 28 with the compromise formula,” Shukla added.

He also admitted that the property dispute had turned serious and HYV state president Sunil Singh reached Madhopur with his supporters and even allegedly misbehaved with police officials there. “I have prepared a report in this regard and will sent it to the senior officials,” he said.

SP Kushinagar, Lalit Kumar Singh, however, refuted that all families have left. “There is no exodus of Muslims in the village. We have versions of several Muslims who are still living in the village. The situation at ground level is normal,” he claimed.