Standing with Indian Muslims - SAY OUR NAMES

Safoora Zargar is a Muslim student-activist who has been charged under the draconian UAPA on the basis of ‘evidence’ that shows ‘a conspiracy to at least block the roads (chakka jam)’, and is currently being held in judicial custody at Tihar Jail. Between January and April this year, more than 50 activists have been served notices for their involvement in the anti-CAA protests and 8 have been arrested. Safoora is one of them. What marks Safoora Zargar’s case as that of immediate urgency is that Safoora is 5-months pregnant and according to her family and lawyer, has a medical history of PCOS and UTIs which make her vulnerable to having a miscarriage. The Honorable courts see this as no matter of immediate concern. The Honorable courts do not see the governments exploiting the lock-down and panic created by Covid-19 as a means to surreptitiously charge and arrest Muslim activists as a matter of immediate concern. Having only the judiciary to turn to in these terrible times, we are despaired and wonder why the Honorable court doesn’t see our suffering and victimization by those in power, or turns a blind eye towards the utter misuse of law that is serving to punish Muslims.

We, the members of NMF, condemn, not just holding a pregnant activist in a prison that has reported positive cases of Covid-19, but also the false charges laid against her and several other Muslim students. We condemn systems that blatantly disregard Muslim lives and suppress Muslim voices. We condemn governments that do not allow for dissent and equate students and activists with terrorists.

Safoora Zargar’s detention demands a call for immediate action. A call for solidarity and justice. Most of all, it demands introspection.

Safoora is but one name on a list of many:

Safoora Zargar. Sharjeel Imam. Dr. Kafeel Khan. Khalid Saifi. Ishrat Jahan. Sabu Ansari. Chingiz Khan. Farhan Zuberi. Meeran Haider. Shifa Ur-Rehman. Asif Iqbal al-Tanha.

And the list isn’t even comprehensive.

Say these names. Think of what is being done to Muslim dissenters. Think of the price Muslim students pay for disagreeing with the government. And mourn for our futures because the message is clear- agree, or go to jail. Muslim students are being asked to made a choice- to give up their identities, opinions and voices and simply agree with the government, or languish in prisons.

Think of the charges laid against these students- I.P.C 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons), 149 (unlawful assembly), 124 A (sedition), 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc.) and 120 B (Criminal conspiracy), sections of the Arms Act, and even 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder). Even UAPA for allegedly inciting the Delhi ‘riots’.

Your power rests on the injustice towards the Muslim community. You have got the popular vote by shouting hate on Muslims. We're tired and we cannot speak our hearts out, we do not have the freedom to express our discomfort with your policies, with your attitude without the fear of dire consequences- legal, social and economic. Muslims can never be cautious enough for you. For you will construe an element of conspiracy and terror in whatever we express. You frame us for sedition when we fight for unity, for equal rights for all, against discriminatory policies and laws. Our existence seems to have become seditious to you.

Safoora Zargar’s FIR does not speak of any specific act of violence but creates a grand theory of inflammatory speeches, and links these speeches to the outbreak of violence. Ergo, you need not demonstrate at all any participation of the accused in violence.

It is not a question of what Saifi, Kafeel, Ishrat, Meeran, Sharjeel, Safoora and others have spoken, their speech acts are inconsequential – for if it were a question of instigating violence through their speeches, it would be members of Parliament, ministers and aspiring leaders of the ruling party who would be behind bars. Only the identities of the accused are of significance here.

Say these names. They are just as Indian as any other Indian, and just as deserving of justice- if there is such a thing guaranteed to us by our noble Constitution.

The systemic oppression of Muslims is becoming India’s new reality. We do not say that this is only a new malaise-yet today, prejudice is being paraded shamelessly. It is being screamed on the loudspeakers- by Kapil Mishra, Ragini Tiwari, and even the Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur saying ‘desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko (shoot the traitors of the country). Yet such speech is not offensive to the courts, police or the government. It is not seditious because it is the government’s speech! Inciteful speeches apart, even firing a gun at a crowd of peaceful protestors has no consequences in today’s India as was made evident in the cases of Kapil Baisala and Rambhakt Gopal.

We cannot view Safoora Zargar’s case in isolation- there is a list of several Muslim student-activists who face similar consequences for dissenting, but it is bigger than that-it is the systemic oppression of Muslims through the suppression of dissenting voices which has seen both explicit and implicit involvement of the Government, the Police, the Press, the Prosecutors and the Judiciary. If anything, this has exposed how every structure in the country we call home has joined hands to oppress us and suppress our voices.

Charge sheets are being filed disproportionately against Muslims who had no connection to any violence which had taken place during the riots.  The victimhood of Muslims during these riots has completely been ignored and none of the perpetrators of targeted violence against Muslims have been charged for their acts.  This is in clear violation of our constitutional values.

The Press has continued this suppression by running targeted campaigns demonizing the Muslims and blaming the Muslim activists for the riots that broke out.

The Judiciary has continually failed us and has displayed its insensitivity by remaining silent and even denying pregnant Safoora Zargar bail.

If one still remains in denial about the veracity of these facts, they may simply cross-check the identities of those who were killed in the Delhi ‘riots’, of those who were killed during the anti-CAA protests, and finally of those who were arrested throughout the period of this lockdown. Say our names, and the truth will flow from there.