In a letter written to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, the group under the name of ‘Citizens for Fraternity’, sought legal and judicial remedial measures for the victims.
NEW DELHI — A group of eminent Muslim personalities has expressed deep anguish and concern over the recent mob attack on meat traders from the minority community in Aligarh.
In a letter written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the group under the name of ‘Citizens for Fraternity’, sought legal and judicial remedial measures for the victims, reported TNIE.
Terming the attack a ‘deeply disturbing incident’, they said that such occurrences are a ‘blot on all efforts towards peace and harmony’.
“At this critical hour, when India is projecting a unified commitment towards communal harmony, countering Terrorism—not only being perpetuated by its neighbour but also within the country—such incidents are a blot on all efforts towards peace and harmony. These have occurred too many times, often encouraged by inadequate police action. The enemies of the nation do take advantage of such communal hatred and social division to create divisive mayhem within the country which can be extremely alarming,” read the letter jointly signed by former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi, former Lieutenant Governor of Delhi and Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia Najeeb Jung, former Deputy Chief of Army Staff and Former Vice Chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Lt Gen (Retd) Zameeruddin Shah, and noted industrialist Saeed Mustafa Sherwani.
The editor of Urdu newspaper Nai Duniya, Shahid Siddiqui and former Customs Commissioner Syed Mahmood Akhtar are also the signatories.
The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon in Alahdadpur village in Aligarh distict when the traders — Nadeem, Aqeel, Arbaz, and Qadeem — were intercepted while transporting meat from a licensed factory. They were reportedly stripped and brutally assaulted with rods, bricks, and sharp weapons. The victims sustained grievous injuries, and three of them are said to be in a critical condition in the hospital.
“The vehicle they were travelling in, which belonged to Al-Ammar Frozen Foods Exports Pvt. Ltd. – a licensed buffalo meat exporter – was vandalised and set on fire. The victims were allegedly extorted by self-styled “cow protection” groups, and upon refusal, they were beaten black and blue. This act is a blatant, vicious act of cow terrorism, which is condemnable in the strongest terms possible,” the group also wrote.
The signatories requested Yogi to take the tenets of law and justice to their ‘logical conclusion without yielding to pressures of any kind’ in the matter. “You are requested to kindly direct the concerned authorities and issue directions to conclusively provide legal, judicial, affirmative redressal to the victims who are currently in critical conditions in the hospital, while simultaneously ensuring that such incidents are never repeated in future,” they stated.
