NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has decided to take up the issue of news channels practice of isolating Muslims after every bomb blasts with the Press Council of India and the News Broadcasting Standard Authority (NBSA).
NCM Chairperson Wajahat Habibullah has assured the Hyderabad based Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC), which raised the matter, to take up the issue with PCI and NBSA.
In his letter to PCI chairman Justice Markandey Katju, the committee’s general secretary Lateef Muhammed Khan said he wants to draw attention towards type of media reporting which is “propagating hatred among the people and isolating the Muslim community”.
He alleged that immediately after the blast when whole city was trying to help, media was reporting live with speculations diverted towards Muslims.
“The media started investigation and jumped on the conclusions and media room trial started. The majority community is seeing them with suspect in every walk of life. The attitude of media has become the biggest threat to Muslim community and their life and liberty is at stake,” alleged Khan’s letter to Justice Katju.
“Muslims are the victims of bomb terror, police terror, media terror and mob terror. This is the ground reality,” the letter added.
The committee requested Katju to issue directions to the media houses to “stop their own investigation and media room trial” against Muslims.
It asked Justice Katju if media houses telecasting such news “just to increase their TRP ratings” not “an act of terror”?
“There are some rules and regulations to be followed by media in reporting the news. But that is not applied while reporting on terror issues,” the letter alleged.
The committee demanded from Justice Katju to “intervene and stop” the practice immediately.
Meanwhile, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has condemned the investigating agencies probing the recent Hyderabad bomb blasts, wherein 16 people were reported to have been killed, for targeting only the Muslim youths, especially those who were exonerated as they were found innocent about their involvement in May 2007 Makkah Masjid blast.
The party has demanded the Andhra Pradesh Government to instruct the Director General of Police to stop targeting of Muslim youths and investigation of bomb blast should be in a fair manner irrespective of religion while abiding by the set guidelines.
SDPI national president E Abubacker in a Press statement took strong exception to the role of media and the probing agencies for once again treading on the same path of Makkah Masjid blast investigations.
He said that the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is zeroing on number of Muslim youths for interrogation, who had been falsely implicated in the May 2007 Makkah Masjid blast case, while completely violating the Supreme Court guidelines for investigations.
(Agencies)
