{"id":111798,"date":"2008-08-16T13:46:20","date_gmt":"2008-08-16T08:16:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=111798"},"modified":"2008-08-16T13:46:20","modified_gmt":"2008-08-16T08:16:20","slug":"the-haunt-of-our-past-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/the-haunt-of-our-past-lives\/","title":{"rendered":"The Haunt Of Our Past Lives"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>MH JAWAHIRULLAH<\/strong>, 48, is a Muslim leader in Tamil Nadu. He often leads delegations to the government on issues concerning Muslims. In September 2007, his organisation, the Tamil Nadu Munnetra Kazhagam (TMMK), played a crucial role in securing reservations for Muslims in government jobs. Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi graced a TMMK public function and commended its work. Karunanidhi donated two ambulances to TMMK, which now runs 42 ambulances offering free services across the state. Hundreds of volunteers of the TMMK had jumped to rescue work in 2004 when the tsunami struck the state\u2019s coast. District officials of the worst-hit Nagapattinam city wrote them letters of thanks. In 2007, TMMK won an award for bringing the highest number of blood donors in emergencies.<\/span>
\nImagine, then, Jawahirullah\u2019s shock when he found that the background note the Centre issued with the February 7 notification banning SIMI said: \u201cSIMI was closely associated with\u2026 TMMK and was involved in various incidents of violence relating to killing of Hindus, especially persons associated with RSS\/ Hindu Munnai organisations, since August, 1993.\u201d When the tribunal travelled to Chennai in June, the feisty Muslim leader landed before it and appealed that his organisation\u2019s name be struck off the background note. \u201cWhat is the evidence against my client?\u201d his counsel asked. Although the Central government\u2019s lawyers had made such a sweeping remark against TMMK, they had no clue if they had evidence.<\/span>
\nSo they asked for a day. The next day, Jawahirullah deposed before the tribunal. The Central government\u2019s lawyers cross-examined him. Of course, said Jawahirullah, he was a SIMI member, but left it way back in 1989 when he turned 30, the age of superannuation. SIMI was then a legitimate organisation. Jawahirullah admitted that, as SIMI\u2019s state president, he had taken on rent an office from the local mosque. But after he left SIMI, he had nothing to do with that transaction. At this, the Central government\u2019s lawyer claimed that Jawahirullah had been paying the rent for that office until the year 2000, which established his links with SIMI. Grandly, the Centre\u2019s lawyer waved alleged rent agreement letters between SIMI and the mosque committee for the years 1997 and 2000 saying it was written in Jawahirullah\u2019s name. The judge asked to see it. Turned out it had no signatures from Jawahirullah. Too bad, said the judge, can\u2019t be used against him, can\u2019t be taken on record. So much for the Centre\u2019s watertight case against SIMI and TMMK on \u201cviolence relating to killing of Hindus\u201d.<\/span>
\n\u201cInnocents are being caught and the real culprits are left scot free,\u201d Jawahirullah said to TEHELKA on the sidelines of the Chennai hearings. \u201cIn the end, only Muslims suffer.\u201d \u2022<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A leading Muslim outfit in Tamil Nadu is accused of killing Hindus. But the Centre\u2019s lawyers can\u2019t remember their own evidence, Reports Ajit Sahi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":112003,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[56],"tags":[7004],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111798"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111798"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111798\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}