TIMES NATION 13 MHA seeks law ministry’s Hamari yaad...

THE TIMES OF INDIA, PUNE *WEDNESDAY, JULY 20, 2016 13TIMES NATION

New Delhi: The Union homeministry has sought the lawministry’s opinion on whet-her Mumbai-based preacherZakir Naik can be bookedunder the Unlawful Activiti-es (Prevention) Act (UAPA)for his speeches, seen as in-stigating people into jihadand justifying terror acts.

Security establishmentsources said the home mini-stry, after studying Naik’sspeeches from the past fewyears, found they contained“objectionable, puratincaland pro-terror” content. Itwrote to the law ministrylast week sharing the fin-dings and seeking legal opi-nion on whether a case canbe made out against Naik un-

der the anti-terror law. The government is explo-

ring the option of invokingUAPA against the preacher,said to have inspired two ter-rorists involved in the recentattack at a Dhaka restau-rant. It comes even as Keralayouth, Ebin Jacob, brotherof one of the 17 ‘missing’ Ke-ralites said to have joined theIslamic State (IS), allegedthat he was forced by a mem-ber of Naik’s Islamic Rese-arch Foundation (IRF), iden-tified by him as R C Qureshi,to convert to Islam and join

the Islamic State. Intelligence agencies are

trying to find out who is ‘Qu-reshi’, as Jacob cannot recallhis Mumbai address and do-es not have his photo. “It ispossible that ‘Qureshi’ was apseudonym,” an officer said,adding that action againstIRF can be initiated only af-ter ‘Qureshi’ is located and itis established that he wasworking for IRF.

Naik, who was in SaudiArabia when his role as aninspiration for the two at-tackers came to light, has

postponed his return to In-dia in the wake of Indianagencies scanning his spee-ches for jihadi and commu-nal content. He was also na-med by the Yazdani brot-hers, arrested recently aspart the National Investiga-tion Agency’s crackdown ona Hyderabad-based IS modu-le, as a terror inspiration.But sources indicated thatNaik’s direct role in theconspiracy would have to beestablished to charge him inthe case.

“Unlike Mufti AbdusSami Qasmi, arrested for ra-dicalizing members of thepan-India IS module headedby Mumbai’s Muddabir Sha-ikh, there is no proof of Naikhaving instigated youth tojoin the IS,” said an NIA offi-cer. As per the chargesheetfiled in the pan-India IS mo-dule case on Tuesday, Samiin his speeches had openlysupported IS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and instigated yo-uth to work for the creationof a Caliphate in India.

Zakir Naik’sSpeeches

‘Pro-Terror’

MHA seeks law ministry’sview if UAPA can be applied

Bharti.Jain@timesgroup.com

Unlike MuftiAbdus Sami

Qasmi, arrested forradicalizing members ofthe pan-India IS moduleheaded by Mumbai’sMuddabir Shaikh, thereis no proof of Zakir Naikhaving instigated youthto join the Islamic StateNIA officer

New Delhi: While Lok SabhaMPs from Kerala sought theCentre’s intervention on Tues-day on alleged migration of afew youths to Islamic State (IS)camps in Syria, RSS’s weekly‘Organiser’ has in its latest edi-tion blamed it on tepid attemptsby the state government to con-tain activities of radical gro-ups, including the banned SIMI.

The weekly says at least 16 yo-uths joined the IS, including aHindu and a Christian girl whoboth converted to Islam. “Amongthose who disappeared myste-riously from Kasaragod and Pa-lakkad districts, some are mar-ried... also pregnant girl (sic),”the weekly said.

It has claimed that bannedoutfits like SIMI and other ex-tremist groups still operate inKerala and it is under their in-fluence that young boys andgirls joined the IS and other ter-ror groups. It says BJP and someother organisations have beencomplaining for nearly a decadeabout ‘love jihad’ playing a keyrole in converting Hindu girls toIslam. “This (sic) sort of activi-ties (love jihad) are taking placein schools and colleges,” it sa-ys. TNN

RSS mag blames‘inactive’ Keralagovt for IS issue

The incident is a flashbackto the August 14, 2013 fatalexplosion on INS Sindhu-

rakshak submarine at Dock-yard, which killed 18 crew mem-bers on board . The defence spo-kesperson in Mumbai saidprompt action by all concernedensured there was no loss of lifeor damage to other naval assetsin the harbour. “Fire broke out inone of the security boats that are

have entered into the engine andled to a short-circuit.” However,the exact cause will be known on-ly after the salvage operation iscompleted and experts carry outtechnical checks.

A board of inquiry has beenordered to investigate the inci-dent. The fire broke out around1.30am in one of the anchoredISVs and spread to the adjacentvessel. One person on each ISVwas on duty at night when the in-cident took place.

deployed for patrolling off Mum-bai. Prompt fire-fighting actionby duty staff prevented the blazefrom spreading to other patroll-ing boats in close vicinity. Dur-ing fire-fighting, two boats suf-fered damage and ingress of wa-ter, and have been submerged inshallow waters in the Naval har-bour,” said the official.

Meanwhile, an Indian Navysource said the possible cause offire seems to be Tuesday’s heavydownpour. “Rainwater could

Two navy boats sink, major mishap averted�Continued from Page 1

Mumbai: Zafar Sareshwala,chancellor of Hyderabad-he-adquartered Maulana AzadNational Urdu University, de-fended controversial Mumbaipreacher Zakir Naik and saidhe “doesn’t incite Muslim yo-uth to join terror outfits or killinnocents”. “I have known Za-kir bhai for years. He is a prea-cher of peace and is beingwrongly put to media trial,” sa-id Sareshwala, an old followerof puritanical Tablighi move-ment.

Naik, at a press conferencevia Skype last week, denied hepromoted terrorism and saidhe would return to India onlynext year. He also said that heknew Sareshwala, a knownModi supporter and aide sincethe latter’s days as Gujarat chi-ef minister.

Zakir preacherof peace, says

SareshwalaMohammed.Wajihuddin

@timesgroup.com

Mubarak Begum,whose effort-less high notesof longing tur-ned ‘KabhiTanhaiyon Me-in’ (Hamari Ya-ad Aayegi) intoa timeless clas-sic for every afi-cionado of half-forgotten Hin-di film songs,

passed away at her Jogeshwarihome on Monday night.

“She was unwell for quitesome time,” a family membertold PTI. The news agency saidshe was 80. Several articles onli-ne, though, ascribe her year ofbirth as 1940 without mentio-ning the date.

“Mubarak Begum had a cle-ar dic-tion, a flawless throw inher voice. There’s always an un-dercurrent of pathos, a kind ofvirah (a yearning for union), aswe feel in the poetry of Baba Fa-rid. The song ‘Hamari Yaad Aa-yegi’ evokes that sense in everylisten-er’s heart,” said singerRita Ganguly.

The number, which becamethe singer’s signature, wascomposed by the Gandhi-capwearing music director SnehalBhatkar in director KidarSharma’s 1961 film. “I was un-well that day and took an injec-tion before the recording,” sherecalled in an interview to Ra-jya Sabha TV in 2012. Anothertitle song, a duet for the mightyPrasad Productions Madras in‘Hamrahi’ (1963), brought outthe bounce and impishness inher voice. Filmed on Telugustar Jamuna and Rajendra Ku-

mar, the track finished as theyear’s seventh most popularnumber in Binaca Geet Mala’sannual countdown show.

Mubarak Begum belongedto the era when Hindi films we-re written and retro-fitted aro-und songs. And with hits likethese, many believed her stop-start career, which had begunwith the aptly-named 1949 film‘Aiye’, was geared up for a cre-scendo. Yet songs came to heronly like drops of water in a de-sert tap. Quite a few were mujranumbers, generally all-femaleduets for small banners. “Smal-ler films paid Rs 150 per song.Big banners gave Rs 500-1,000,”she once revealed.

Mubarak Begum was bornin Sujangarh, Rajasthan, butgrew up in Ahmedabad, Guja-rat. Her father sold fruits in lor-ries but also enjoyed playingtabla. He took her to watch mo-vies of Noorjehan and Suraiya,whose songs she enjoyed hum-ming. The hard-up family shif-ted to Bombay hoping that theirfortunes would improve if shebecame a playback singer, Mu-barak Begum once said in anundated radio interview avai-lable on YouTube. Trained inKirana gharana, she first sangghazals for All India Radio.

The singer attracted serio-us attention in Hindi film in-dustry after singing a bunch ofsongs in auteur Kamal Amro-hi’s ‘Daaera’ (1953), an underfe-ted masterpiece on unrequitedlove. Incidentally, ‘Devta TumHo Mera Sahara’, one of the fi-nest bhajans in a Hindi film,was sung by Mohd Rafi and Mu-barak Begum, penned by KaifBhopali and composed by Ja-mal Sen.

In the years that followed,most top music directors gaveher a song or two. SD Burman(Devdas), Salil Chowdhary(Madhumati), Kalyanji-Anand-ji (Juari, Saraswatichandra),Shankar-Jaikishen (Hamrahi,Arzoo, Teesri Kasam), Khayy-am (Shagoon, Mohabbat IskoKahete Hain). But not more.She recorded between 150 and200 songs in her entire careerspanning nearly two decades.Without naming anyone, thesinger once blamed “monopo-ly” and “groupism” as reasonsbehind the loss of her “rozi ro-ti” in a radio interview.

Writing for the online ma-gazine, thewire.in, SidharthBhatia points out that the sing-er was “the last of the ‘Muslimvoices from the Golden era ofHindi cinema” which includednames such as Zohrabai Amba-lewali, Amirbai Karnataki, No-orjehan, Shamshad Begumand the queen of them all, Sura-iya”. He described the “Mus-limness” in her voice “not somuch a reference to her reli-gion than to a particular kind oftone and texture and style—alahja”.

By late 1960s, Mubarak Be-gum was out of work. The sing-er performed occasionally onstage and in gatherings for so-me years. But she fell on hard ti-mes in the autumn of her life.Stories in newspapers and tele-vision pushed the Maharash-tra government and charitableorganizations to offer aid. Whatremained till her last breathwas a lingering regret of songsunsung. And perhaps a wishthat fans remember her like thetimeless track, ‘Kabhi Tanhaiy-on Mein, Hamari Yaad Aayegi’.

Hamari yaad aayegi: SingerMubarak Begum no more

Avijit.Ghosh@timesgroup.com

Neeraj Chauhan & Bharti Jain TNN

New Delhi: Senior membersof Islamic State-inspired Ju-nood-ul-Khalifa Fil Hind(JKH), arrested by the NIA ina countrywide crackdownearlier this year, had planned to establish awing in Bangladesh.

The outfit’s deputy in India,Mohammad Nafees Khan, whi-le radicalising fellow jihadi Mo-hammad Obedullah last year,boasted of connections withthe top IS commanders in Sy-ria, according to the chargeshe-et filed by the NIA in a specialDelhi court on Tuesday. He in-formed the new recruit thatwhile they had already formedthe India wing — the JKH —they also planned to establishan arm in Bangladesh.

Dhaka was recently hit byamajor terror attack in which20 people, mostly foreigners,were killed. The attack wasowned up by the IS, though

Dhaka claimed it was the han-diwork of local outfit Jamaat-ul Mujahideen Bangladesh(JMB).

The NIA, which has char-ged 16 JKH members, inclu-ding Syria-based principal re-cruiter Shafi Armar alias Yu-suf al Hindi, and made twoothers approvers, claimed themembers had met the Naxaloperatives in Jharkhand tounderstand their “guerillatactics”.

“During the coordinationmeeting, one accused, Moham-mad Azhar Khan, suggestedthat since their fight was aga-inst security forces, they sho-uld adopt guerrilla tactics asdone by Naxals. It was discus-sed that they should purchaseland in a re-mote area to operate in a clan-destine manner,” says the char-gesheet. Azhar said they sho-uld “make their own jihadi ar-my like the Naxals and fight forhuman rights of Muslims”. InDecember 2015, Azhar asked

others to go to Naxal areas to es-tablish contacts. Four mem-bers went to Hazaribagh inJharkhand.

Interestingly, two of themembers, arrested by the NIAin January-February alongwith 18 others, turned appro-ver and gave crucial details onthe module’s planning, training and sources of finance.

Nafees also told the new recruit that MuddabirSheikh was appointed In-dia emir (head) and “there we-re nearly 300 Indians who are ready to join the IS,”says the chargesheet.

While Nafees had alreadysent two members—QadeerMohammed and Arshad Ay-ub — to Syria, he claimed that“they will procure arms andammunition from Assam-Bangladesh border and alsotrying to acquire grenades,AK-47 and RDX”.

In January this year, themembers of the module had

identified an isolated farm ho-use in Vikarabad, about 75 kmfrom Hyderabad.

NIA chargesheet also saysthat some of the accused hadeven discussed the demolitionof Babri Masjid and Dadrilynching incidents in theirconversations on social net-working sites. It says the oufitmembers attended nine mee-tings in places like Tumkur,Lucknow, Bengaluru, Hyde-rabad and Mumbai for plan-ning, training and arrangingfinances.

The agency has named Ar-mar, Muddabir Sheikh, Nafe-es Khan, Abu Anas, NajmulHuda and Mohammed Afzaland 10 others with charges un-der various sections of IPC,Unlawful (Activities) Preven-tion Act and Explosive Sub-stances Act.

NIA secured scientific andforensic evidence that Armarhad interacted on web-basedsocial media networks withother arrested accused.

IS wanted to set up wing in Bangladesh: NIA