Malegaon: more lies of the Anti-Terrorism Squad exposed

Pholsawngi's hundreds of Muslim and Hindu villagers stood up to vouch for Imam of Mosque, Maulana Mohammad Zahid's innocence from the allegations to fix bomb in Mushawarat Chowk of Malegaon By Abdul Haleem Siddiqui

Yavatmal, Dec 12: The conspiracy to implicate Muslim youth in Malegaon blasts case was unveiled when three hundreds worshipers of Pholsawangi village's mosque witnessed that "Maulana Zahid sahab was not only present among with us on 8th September but he also led all prayers up to the night of "Shab-e Bara'at". Morevoer, these 300 worshipers of the Pholsawangi Jama Masjid signed the affidavit of Kul Jamaati Tanzeem Malegaon (All Jamaat Malegaon Organisatin). The affidavit's copy was received at Urdu Times office today. The signature campaign by Pholsawangi's villagers came after Police alleged that Maulana Zahid is the person who fixed the bomb in the motorcycle on Friday, 8 September, at Mushawarat Junction in Malegaon. Maharshtra DGP Pasricha confirmed this police claim at his press conference at Mumbai on 27th October where he had said that "Noorul Huda and Raees Ahmad planted the bombs at two places in the graveyard, while the Mushwarat Junction's bomb was fixed by Mohammad Zahid Abdul Majid." Eight thousand villagers of Pholsawngi expressed their utter surprise at the statement of DGP Pasricha. The villagers said that they have "never found him anywhere anytime other than in the Masjid. How can he take part in such a dangerous act". Police allegation is not convincing as the distance between Pholsawngi to Malegaon is 520 kms and the journey between the two towns can only be covered in 12 to 14 hours by car/bus.

Maulana Zahid's 20-year-old wife Salma lives 6 kms away from Pusad (Dist. Yavatmal ). She filed an affidavit with the Pusad magistrate that Maulana was present in Pholsawangi on 8th September. She wrote in the affidavit that "we were married 14 months back. I was residing with him in the room of Mosque-cum-madarasa compound at ward no. 5. He never went outside the village. He didn't take a single pie dowry at the time of marriage and even marriage ceremony was held simply. And my husband's relatives didn't participate in the marriage because he didn't invite anybody.

" Salma not only failed to manage an advocate to fight this case due to poverty but she also could not travel to Mumbai to meet him after his arrest. Salma mentioned her penury and all details in her letter to Ulama and advocates of Kul Jamaati Malegaon Tanzeem (KJMT). At her appeal, KJMT sent a fact-finding team to this village to probe the case. The team comprised of Ulama, journalists and advocates. Today, this team announced the report and said that it has collected proofs of Maulana Zahid's innocence. The report includes affidavits of various important personalities which will be presented to the court if needed. the fact-finding team's members, Advocate Nihal and Advocate Momin Mujeeb said that a number of Hindu villagers too are witnesses of Maulana Zahid's presence in the Pholsawangi village on the blast day. The whole village considers him like an angel, they said.

Source: Urdu Times Daily, Mumbai, 13 December, 2006Translated Urdu by Anwarulhaq Baig