KOZHIKODE, JAN. 15,2002

The National Development Front (NDF) has said that its supporters were not among those arrested in connection with the recent communal riots at Marad in Kozhikode district. Speaking at a press conference at Unity House, the headquarters of the NDF, its leaders also said their organisation had no role in Marad riots.

"Such a charge had not been raised even by the RSS which planned and executed the riots. The RSS initiated the attacks and the local people reacted in what could be considered a natural response," they said adding that NDF had no unit on Marad beach. The NDF leaders also warned that the situation there could get worse if "innocent Muslims were persecuted by the police" and warned that "the police had to convince the people its actions were impartial".

The NDF leaders also claimed that their organisation was being unnecessarily dragged into the controversy over the Government decision to withdraw cases registered in Kondotty police station regarding a violent incident which took place at Arimbra in Malappuram district.

They claimed that the NDF was also not involved in the case at Manjeri the withdrawal of which had been demanded by the IUML MLA, Ishaq Kurikkal.  There was nothing unsual in a political party withdrawing cases against their supporters whenever they come to power. The NDF had not made any request for withdrawal of the case. Neither was it against withdrawal of cases filed against innocent people.

To contend that the benefit of withdrawing fabricated cases should not be given to NDF supporters was nothing but denial of justice, they said. The NDF chairman, E Aboobacker, the general secretary, P. Abdul Majeed Faisi, the Supreme Council members, P. Koya and Nasiruddin Elamaram, were present at the press conference.

The NDF chairman contended that the scrutiny of a party-wise list of violent incidents which occurred in the State in the past eight years would reveal that the NDF's role in such incidents was not as terrifying as it had been made out to be.  He said number of cases in which NDF men were convicted was less than that involving activists of the CPI(M), RSS, Congress and many other political parties.

"Mediapersons have been misled by Intelligence authorities to believe that the NDF was a militant organisation. They had said the same thing about Congress during the freedom struggle," the NDF spokesmen said.

Read also :  Marad: Untold Story Of An RSS "Liberated Area"  by Mukundan C Menon