Sabahuddin Ahmed, accused and acquitted in the 26/11 case, has written a letter criticising community leaders for the “poor condition” of Muslims in the country, besides attacking the state machinery and highlighting the condition of other inmates awaiting trial in the Arthur Road jail.
Sabahuddin and co-accused Fahim Ansari are waiting to be shifted to Uttar Pradesh for another terror trial. In his letter on May 25, written in Urdu and sent to the Jamiat Ulema that provided legal assistance, Sabahuddin writes, “It’s been nearly two years since I was brought to Mumbai. I live with a hundred other inmates like me. They wait forever, hoping their trial will also begin some day. They hope they will have a lawyer to represent them before the court and help them prove their innocence.”
The letter accuses Muslim leaders of being responsible for the “poor condition” of Muslims in the country. “I never cared for politics until my arrest. But my yearlong stint in Arthur Road jail has made me sceptical. I read in newspapers that Muslim leaders make a statement or two everyday about how innocent men like me are implicated in false cases. But what do they really do to help us?” he asks. “Had these leaders and messiahs of Islam only shown a little more interest towards the betterment of the community, so many Muslim men would not have languished in jail. The community (Muslims) feels targeted because there is no one to take up our cases,” he says.
He says the 26/11 trial has exposed the government and the police who, he says, book helpless citizens without there being evidence against them. “I wonder how many are actually lucky to have been acquitted like me and Fahim,” he says.
In Sabahuddin has also urged the Jamiat to assist him legally in other pending cases. Jamiat general secretary Gulzar Azmi said this was Sabahuddin’s first attempt to reach out to them for assistance.