SP accuses Maharashtra govt of misusing Islamic State issue to spread fear among Muslims

Mumbai: Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi on Monday accused the BJP-led Maharashtra government and police of “misusing” the Islamic State issue to spread “fear” among the Muslims. “The government and police are using the ISIS issue to spread fear among Muslims,” Azmi alleged. [caption id=“attachment_1497457” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A file photo of Abu Azmi. CNN-News18[/caption] Referring to a claim by Shiv Sena MLA Rahul Patil that around 100 Muslim youth, suspected to be in touch with Islamic State, have gone missing from Marathwada, he said the claim should be probed. “Has anyone from the families of these youth registered a missing complaint?” Azmi told reporters at Legislative Assembly complex. The SP MLA tried to raise the issue in the Lower House but wasn’t allowed to do so by the presiding officer. “I am not saying that 100 youth are not missing. But not everyone of them should be linked to ISIS,” Azmi said. RSS, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and BJP are creating a rift between Hindus and Muslims in the country, he claimed. On Shive Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray’s demand that India be declared a “Hindu nation”, Azmi said, “this dream of Uddhav’s father won’t be fulfilled”. Meanwhile, Patil called for a ban on Asaduddin Owaisi’s All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul Muslimeen (AIMIM) claiming it “supports ISIS”. In its crackdown on suspected supporters of Islamic State, Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested a 24-year-old terror suspect — Shahid Khan in Parbhani district and recovered 1 kg of explosives and other bomb-making materials from him. Khan was the third such suspect to be nabbed by ATS last week. Two other suspects were arrested earlier in joint operations between the Kerala Police and the state ATS from Thane and Navi Mumbai respectively.