"We condemn the Ahmedabad bomb blasts. Gujarati Muslims want peace. We are a business-oriented people and we believe that peace must be maintained. Muslims of Gujarat are not at all involved in any terror activity," said Saeed Umarjee, son of Hussein Umarjee, prime accused in the Godhra carnage of 2002 in which 59 people were killed. Since 2003, Hussein Umerjee has been in Sabarmati jail along with 85 other accused.
Saeed told rediff.com, "No religion permits such an inhuman act. We the people of Godhra strongly condemn the killing of innocent people in the Ahmedabad serial bomb blasts. We want a just and fair investigation leading to strict punishment as per the Indian Penal code."
He said, "When TV channels show an e-mail from Indian Mujahideen they are misleading the people. We should not pre-judge anything. Let a fair investigations take place."
He further argued, "Whenever there are bomb blasts, fair investigations are not conducted. That creates bad blood among people. There are people in society who then feel like taking revenge. They get support from the community, too."
Saeed, who is a big-time timber trader, emphasised, "Local involvement is unlikely in today's blasts because Gujarati Muslims are petrified. When you show such e-mails on TV we would feel scared. Such acts (serial blasts) are done by people whose minds are degenerated. We have nothing to do with such people. Gujarati Muslims want to forget the riots. We are not anti-national."
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