Muslim India

Even as the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was meeting dignitaries in the city on Saturday, some activists were biding their time at two local police stations after being picked up for 'questioning'. Incidentally, Feroz Mithiborwala and Kishor Jagtap who were picked up from their houses on Friday are part of Awami Bharat, a non-profit organisation that has held several protests against 'US imperialism' on earlier occasions.

"We were picked up from our houses on Friday night without being given a specific reason and brought to the MIDC police station. An official told us that we had been brought owing to an intelligence input and will be here till the next day. However, on Saturday, they told us that we would be allowed to leave only on Sunday. While Clinton's visit or security has not been mentioned to us as the reason for our detention, we sat there for very long without even knowing why," said Mithiborwala, who claimed that the police referred to an earlier protest they participated in demanding a high-level probe into the 26/11 attacks.

Mithiborwala and Jagtap were released at about 6 pm on Saturday, "without any explanation" on their detention or release, they said. A month after 26/11 Awami Bharat had demanded a high-level probe into the deaths of Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar and Ashok Kamte and alleged that "certain political forces from within our country organised this terror attack with the help of the American CIA and the Israeli MOSSAD."

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone 10, K M M Prasanna said that they had been picked up only for questioning. Mithiborwala's lawyer Gayatri Singh alleged that it was illegal detention.

Another activist from Jamaat-e-Islami, an Islamic revivalist movement, was detained by the V B Nagar police. "We detained Mohammed Aslam Ghazi, spokesperson for the Jamaat's Maharashtra unit for preventive purposes as we expected him to indulge in some cognisable offence to disrupt Clinton's visit," said Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone V, Milind Bharambe.

Joint Police Commissioner K L Prasad confirmed that a handful of people who were expected to create trouble during Clinton's visit were held at a few police stations. He stressed that it was preventive action and they would be let off after questioning.