London Candle Light Vigil for Arrested Indian Journalist Ahmad Kazmi
By Free Kazmi Team
26 March, 2012
Countercurrents.org
More than 500 Indian students in UK, holding candles, carrying banners, wearing black armbands and simmering with anger, held a candle light vigil outside Indian High Commission UK on March 23, to protest against the incarceration of New Delhi based prominent journalist Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi by Delhi Police’s notorious Special Cell. Protestors demanded the immediate release of Kazmi, who has been allegedly held on dubious and unsubstantiated charges and is being subjected to custodial torture and harassment.
A large mass of protestors, blurring the lines of ethnicity and religion, including many high-profile dignitaries, religious clerics, community leaders and senior members of civil society from across UK unequivocally condemned the arrest of Kazmi. The protestors alleged that he has been implicated on flimsy grounds at the behest of powerful Israeli-US lobby in Delhi.
The event started with the recitation of Holy Quran, followed by introductory speech by one of the organizers. Some of Kazmi’s friends and acquaintances in UK also addressed the gathering. One of the speakers hailed him as the perfect embodiment of Gandhian values.
Condemning the arrest of Kazmi, Head & Spokesperson of Islamic Human Right Commission (IHRC) Raza Kazim said the mindless targeting of innocent Muslims is not in the interest of India, but in the interests of US and Israel. “It is not about certain section of people, it's about ordinary masses and what it is that we can actually do so that the oppressed are remembered and the oppressors are held to account and this is the message we are sending out today,” said Kazim.
Many civil rights activists spoke about the importance of the freedom of speech and expression and how it is often sacrificed at the altar of ‘national interest’ or ‘strategic interest’. “It is unfortunate that innocent journalists and writers are incarcerated merely for expressing their views, which are not in conformity with official rhetoric, and it sets a dangerous precedent for future,” said one of the speakers.
The protestors called for an end to mindless witchhunt and targeting of innocent Muslims by India police. The protestors also condemned the misrepresentation of facts in certain sections of mainstream India media.
Students and activists present at the vigil reacted sharply to reports about Israeli intelligence agency Mossad interrogating Kazmi. “We voted for Indian government not for Israel. Why is Delhi Police taking directives from Israel, which is already so notorious for illegal spying operations and war crimes in West Asia,” said one of the activists.
The event concluded with protestors submitting a signed petition and memorandum to the Indian High Commission officials with a box of chocolates as a sign of goodwill gesture.
Kazmi, a veteran journalist who has worked with Doordarshan, BBC, IRNA, UNI and is a regular columnist for Urdu newspapers in India, was picked up by police on Wednesday, March 7, while returning to his home in Jor Bagh from India Islamic Cultural Centre, Lodhi Road. He is accused of providing the ‘logistical support’ to those who attacked the Israeli diplomat’s car in New Delhi recently. His family and friends have rubbished the charges as baseless and concocted, alleging that he has been falsely implicated because he is an outspoken critic of US and Israel.
He has been booked under the stringent provisions of dreadful Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) and sent to unprecedented 20 days police remand. Kazmi’s counsel has said that he was forced to sign on the arrest memo hours after the arrest. The police have not yet produced any case diary, and the sleuths who arrested him were not in uniform, exposing the illegal nature of his arrest. Some of the accusations leveled against him smack of vicious conspiracy and vendetta, rather than his involvement in the crime.
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