Muslim groups denounce violence

Even as the city condemned Saturday's violence in south Mumbai, several Muslim organisations raised questions about the need for the protest. Reetika Subramanian reports

Even as the city condemned Saturday's violence in south Mumbai, several Muslim organisations raised questions about the need for the protest.

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"Though Saturday's incident was unfortunate, I am perplexed by the issues that were raised in the protest," said Javed Anand, member of Muslims for Secular Democracy.

"While international issues such as violence in Myanmar and controversy surrounding a Danish cartoon have witnessed thousands of protests, agitations to condemn deaths in the 2002 Gujarat riots have always seen a poor turnout," he said.

Saturday's protest was organised by members of the Raza Academy, purportedly to condemn violence against Muslims in Assam and Myanmar.

Muslim leaders said that while every citizen has a fundamental right to protest, care should have been taken to ensure the safety of protesters.

"While planning such a protest, organisers should have taken utmost care about the security of the attendees," said Noorjehan Safia Niaz, founder member, Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan. Niaz also added that the issue in north-east India needed to be understood from a human rights point of view, and not merely based on religion.