Indian authorities turning Muslims into homeless Article by Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera carries an article dedicated to the oppression of Muslims in India, Caliber.Az reprints the article.

Wakeel Hasan, 45, a rat-hole miner who became a national hero after leading the team that saved 41 trapped workers during a tunnel rescue in November, had to climb his neighbour’s 1.8-metre (six-foot) wall to enter the rubble-filled plot of land where his house stood only a day earlier.

The police had barricaded the front of the land where his home was demolished by the authorities in Khajuri Khas, a densely populated neighbourhood in India’s capital, New Delhi.

A day later, he stood on the rubble of his house, tears rolling down his face as he overturned bricks and wood planks to try and recover his 15-year-old daughter Aliza’s textbooks.

Only three months ago, Hasan was a national hero and had made headlines for rescuing 41 construction workers trapped in a Himalayan tunnel for more than two weeks.

Hasan and his team received national recognition for their feat, including praise from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and a selfie with Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan. Cash awards were announced and TV channels interviewed Hasan and his team of rat miners for days.

"Dragged out of the house"

Aliza said police officers had arrived at their house to demolish it and that she, along with her older brother Azeem, was standing against the door to prevent the police from entering.

Soon, half a dozen police officers, some of them female, barged into the house and allegedly hit Aliza and Azeem, the assault caught on camera by people in a crowd that had gathered by now.

“I was slapped by the female police personnel and Azeem was pushed around, slapped and verbally abused. We were then dragged out of the house and thrown into a police car,” Aliza told Al Jazeera.

The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) claimed Hasan’s house was built illegally on government land. In a statement, it said Hassan’s family was informed before about the demolition and that they were given enough time to evacuate.

Hasan says no prior notice was given.

“They claim the act was part of a demolition drive of illegal properties, yet they only demolished one property: mine,” he told Al Jazeera.

"Because I’m from a minority community?"

 “I don’t understand why I was targeted. Was it because I am from a minority community?” Hasan said.

Labour rights activist Sucheta De says the demolition was both illegal and criminal. “If we see the past instances of demolitions, it looks targeted, anti-poor and anti-minority,” she told Al Jazeera.

Lawyer Kawalpreet Kaur, who often takes up demolition cases and is closely following Hasan’s, suggested that if indeed Hasan’s property was illegal for so many years, it was the government that needed to answer questions.

“He had been staying in his house for over a decade. The question arises: if the government claims it was their land, what had they been doing for so many years?” she asked.

"They should’ve buried us with the house"

Hasan’s fellow rat-miner Munna Qureshi was working at a site 35km (22 miles) away when he got a call from his friend. Hasan told him about the ongoing demolition. Qureshi, who had dug out survivors from the Uttarakhand tunnel alongside Hasan, rushed to Khajuri Khas.

There, he says, Hasan and he were detained by police and their phones were confiscated while the demolition was going on.

“At the police station, I was punched in the face and verbally abused,” said Qureshi.

“What will I do with all these trophies and medals? Is this how they treat people who make the country proud?” he said.

Hasan’s trophies lie under the rubble of his house.

“We had saved our entire lives to buy and build this house and they demolished it in minutes. We borrowed money, sold our village land, and sold our wedding jewellery to buy this property,” Hasan’s wife Shabana said.

“They knew who my husband was, but they still demolished our house. Just because we are Muslims?” asked Shabana.