Kozhikode: Organisations including Jamaat-e-Islami, Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), Welfare Party and the popular front of India have criticised the state government over the action against those who protested against the rape and murder of a girl in Kathua and the decision to impose prohibitory orders in Kozhikode city.
In a press release on Thursday, Jamaat-e-Islami State general secretary M K Mohammedali accused the police of witch-hunting Muslims under the guise of action against those involved in violence as part of a hartal called by social media groups on Monday. The police action branding people as terrorists was shrouded in mystery, he said.
In a two-day spell of mass arrests, the State police have arrested at least 950 people across the state in connection with the hartal.
SDPI State general secretary Ajmal Ismai and PFI State general secretary CP Mohammed Basheer also strongly criticised the police action. Mohammed Basheer pointed out that though people from different communities and political organisations were involved in the hartal, only those belonging to the Muslim community were being targeted by the police.
A protest rally was planned by SDPI on Thursday. However, following the clamping of prohibitory orders in the district for seven days, party functionaries said at a press meet on Wednesday that they were postponing it to April 30.
Prohibitory orders are in place within the city limits of Kozhikode for a week in the wake of Special Branch reports that the protests against Kathua incident could lead to tension and disrupt communal harmony, although there were no incidents of such nature in the two days after the hartal.