Waquar Hasan | Clarion India
LUCKNOW – After Students at Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema came out to protest against the controversial citizenship law on Monday, Lucknow police arrested five persons including four students from the Islamic seminary. The police also banned all kind of protests and other programmes scheduled for Thursday, December 19, in the city.
In connection with the clash between students and the police personnel, cops filed four FIRs and arrested four students namely Faizi Ahmad aka Faraz of Hasanganj, Mohammed Ahmad of Madiaon, Mohammed Saud Qureshi of New Delhi and Arshad Mohsin of Bihar. Cases were registered against them at the Hasanganj police station. The police also arrested a leader of the All Indian Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Azeezurrahman aka Khalid of Bazarkahla.
According to the PTI, four FIRs were registered at the Hasanganj and Gudamba police stations against around 400 unknown persons. Lucknow SSP Kalanidh Naithani said the programmes for Thursday were banned.
District Magistrate of Lucknow, Abhishek Prakash, said section 144 of the CrPC was in force in the district. “So, no programme/assembly of people can take place without the permission of the district administration.”
Lucknow-based social activist Mohammed Shoaib told Clarion India that they are set to organise a protest on December 19 as part of the nationwide protest against the draconian Citizenship law, but were served notices announcing a ban on any such protest. He said he would defy the ban as “the protest is my right and I do not need any permission to exercise this right.”
“ It’s our father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi who has shown this path. The Constitution has given us all this right. We will definitely hold the protests,” said Shoaib.
However, Shoaib is not surprised over the arrests of the Nadwa students. “Look at the Jamia Millia Islamia, what kind of barbarity was committed against students! This happens when you seek your rights.”
After the brutal police crackdown at the Jamia campus and Alighar Muslim University (AMU), the country witnessed extraordinary protests against the draconian citizenship law which discriminates against Muslims in the matter of granting citizenship. Along with dozens of universities and colleges, the Lucknow-based Islamic college also erupted into a protest and students and police clashed.
