Educationists arrested as terrorists

New Delhi: On Dec.27, the Gujarat police arrested 127 delegates of an educational convention at Surat describing them as activists of the banned outfit, SIMI. Those arrested included a 65-year-old Maulana Ataur Rahman Wajdi from Saharanpur, UP and a youth of 19 years, Shaikh Hussain Mansuri of Ahmedabad. The organisers of the educational convention, Tahreek-e-Ehyaa-e-Ummah (Movement for the Revival of the Community), claimed that their outfit is eight years old and working for the promotion of social and educational awareness. All the conventions in the past eight years have been well-publicised and held in various cities. This time round to, the Surat convention had nothing secret about it. Vouching for the genuineness of the organisation, Syed Ameenul Hasan Rizvi, member of the All- India Muslim Personal Law Board, Maulana Abdul Aleem Islahi, an Islamic scholar from Hyderabad and P.M.A. Salam member of the Movement for Protection of Islamic Symbols, denied allegations that the SIMI had clandestinely organised the Surat convention. (Hindu Jan. 11, 2002).