Muslims in Hyderabad have expressed their unhappiness over reports that they were target of a sophisticated telephone tapping operation by Intelligence Bureau.
Reacting sharply to the revelations made by news magazine Outlook that Muslim-dominated areas of Hyderabad and Lucknow were targeted for telephone tapping at the behest of then National Security Advisory M K Narayanan, community leaders said that this was yet another proof of how Muslims were being eyed with suspicions by those in power as well as the agencies.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board secretary Abdul Raheem Qureshi has urged the Centre and the state to immediately put an end to the abominable practices of targeting of Muslims for telephone tapping and other espionage operations in the name of fight against terrorism.
"Telephone tapping is a serious violation of the right to privacy, guaranteed by the constitution," said Moulana Qureshi, who was also part of Muslim United Forum, the umbrella of several Muslim organisations in Andhra Pradesh.
"The telephone tapping operation in Muslim-dominated areas of Hyderabad and Lucknow shows that the home ministries both at the Centre and the states, and their intelligence agencies were out to selectively target the Muslim minority in the country."
Strongly condemning the anti Muslim bias of the intelligence authorities, Qureshi demanded to know whether similar operations were carried out against the leaders of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal.
