Islamic State case: Law enforcers, not parties, should probe, says Ahmed Patel

Congress leader Ahmed Patel at the Parliament House in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

Days after Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said the Bharuch hospital that employed one of the two youths arrested for suspected Islamic State links in Gujarat was being “managed” by Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel, the senior Congress leader has written to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, saying that framing terror charges must be done by law enforcement agencies and the judiciary, not political leaders.

Patel, who is the political secretary to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has asked the Home Minister to “take cognizance of the matter” and “instruct relevant law enforcing agencies to take this investigation (into the arrests) to its logical end in an impartial and objective manner, in a manner which befits such a serious offence”. “Those guilty, irrespective of faith or any affiliation must be brought to justice…” he said in a letter, dated October 28.

Patel said that the arrests of the Islamic State operatives pose a grave challenge to the well-being and security of the state. Gujarat, he said, has a proud of history of believing in peaceful co-existence and incidents of radicalisation of the local population are inimical to the very idea of the state and its culture and “deserve to be investigated with utmost gravity by competent law enforcement agencies.”

“Matters of national security cannot be a prisoner of politics and neither should be reduced to baselessly maligning political opponents for petty electoral gains. This would be the greatest injustice we would be doing in our fight against terrorism. Therefore, I find it extremely disturbing that the ruling party in Gujarat is vitiating a serious ongoing investigation just ahead of elections by making wild and unsubstantiated allegations.”

“We should rise above political differences in matters which involve national security. Framing terror charges must be done by law enforcement agencies and the judiciary and not by political leaders in press conferences from party headquarters,” he has said in the letter.

The Gujarat ATS has arrested two persons — Ubed Mirza and Kasim Steamberwala — for allegedly having IS links. Kasim was earlier working with the Sardar Vallabhbhai Hospital in Bharuch as a lab technician.

Linking Patel with Kasim, Rupani had sought Patel’s resignation from the Upper House.—WITH ENS AHMEDABAD