Owaisi flays Karnataka govt for inaction on lifting hijab ban

Hyderabad: Asaduddin Owaisi, the president of AIMIM, criticised the Karnataka government on Monday for failing to issue orders to repeal the state's prohibition on the headscarf seven months after the Congress party took office.

"Why has it taken them (Congress government in Karnataka) seven months and why are they going back? After addressing a public meeting, the Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that they can wear whatever you want and then he tells within one hour that we are yet to take a decision. It is very unfortunate. The Muslims of Karnataka are feeling let down," he said.

The AIMIM chief wondered what is stopping the Congress Government in Karnataka from issuing such orders which will take just 30 minutes.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday clarified that the administration was only contemplating lifting the ban on wearing hijab in educational institutions in the state and a decision will be taken after holding discussions at the government level.

Kashmir civilian deaths

Speaking to reporters here, while condemning the killing of four Indian Army personnel by Pakistani terrorists in Kashmir, the Hyderabad MP demanded the arrest of the personnel allegedly involved in the "killing" of three civilian people whose bodies were found after they were reportedly picked up for questioning.

Owaisi said compensation and other measures by the government are not enough and that the officials who are involved in it should be arrested immediately.

Three men were found dead under suspicious circumstances on December 22 near the site of an ambush by terrorists on two Army vehicles in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district that left five soldiers dead and two injured the previous day.

The deceased were among the eight people reportedly picked up by the Army for questioning in connection with the attack at Dhatyar Morh.

"The government of the day cannot get away from this crime where three people have been murdered in the custody of the government. So compensation and providing employment is not enough. What is required is that the officers or the personnel who are involved in this murder of these three people should be arrested immediately. And still five people are in hospital and three are in very serious condition. They have to be given the best of the treatment," he demanded.

He said the three civilians belonged to the Gujjar Bakarwal community and they have always stood against Pakistani terrorists and always helped the Indian Army.

Taking a dig at the NDA government at the Centre, Owaisi sought to know how the terrorists killed four Indian soldiers when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led dispensation claimed that terrorism and infiltration had come down in Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370.

With PTI inputs