Herald View: The horrors of Haldwani

Some of us may have become inured to the miscarriage of justice, especially when Muslims are at the receiving end. But the cockiness with which the Uttarakhand government and the Haldwani administration blamed the Muslim community for the police firing last week should stir even the most benumbed conscience.

The official narrative maintains that police and municipal officials were attacked with stones and ‘bombs’ following the ‘lawful’ demolition of a mosque and an adjacent madrasa, compelling the police to fire in selfdefence.

A story as full of holes as the fabric of our society. If, as was claimed, the structures were built illegally on government land in 2002, why were they overlooked for 22 years? Why, if they were illegal constructions, had the municipal corporation approved water and electricity connections? A notice was admittedly served by the municipality—for the first time—on 30 January 2024, demanding that the premises be vacated within three days.

The matter was listed for hearing on 14 February—and yet, as if the legal procedure were of no consequence and the verdict a foregone conclusion, both structures were demolished on 8 February. Abdul Malik, who has bizarrely been described as the ‘mastermind’ of the violence on 8 February, says the mosque and the madrasa were constructed on land rightfully and lawfully acquired by his family.

They have proof, he said, that the Uttarakhand High Court had directed the district magistrate in 2007 to dispose of an application to convert the plot from ‘nazool’ land to freehold land in the records.

The application was not unique because half of Haldwani is said to have been built on nazool land (which refers to government-owned land that can be leased out for non-agricultural purposes). With the municipality now claiming it cannot find any record of the said high court directive from 2007 in its archives, shouldn’t there first have been an inquiry into the landholding before the bulldozers were brought on?

In an incriminating video, the district magistrate of Haldwani admits that a large number of local people had gathered at the municipal corporation office on 3 February, asking for time to seek legal redress.

She also says that the municipality had actually taken possession of the two structures before 3 February and sealed them; that the holy books had been taken out of the mosque and that nobody was present inside the premises when they were demolished on the evening of 8 February.

The demolition, she says, began around 4 p.m. only after a phone call from a government lawyer at the high court provided the information that the court had refused to grant an interim stay on the demolition.

Asked why the administration could not wait for a formal order from the high court, given that the municipality was already in possession of the structures, she said orders were given “because the demolition squad and the police were ready and available”. But of course: aren’t they always?

It is blindingly obvious that there was no need for speed. It was the demolition that was pre-meditated, not the violence that followed it. There was already tension in the locality following flag marches by the police, surveillance by drones and visible preparations for the demolition; its timing merely laid bare the plot.

The state assembly had just passed a uniform civil code that encroached on Muslim Personal Law. The Gyanvapi mosque in Varanasi had just seen Hindus conducting puja in its basement for the first time in over four centuries. There was no attempt at dialogue with the community and religious leaders.

A young and inexperienced district magistrate was simply following orders. Hundreds of Muslim residents have since fled their homes, seeking sanctuary with relatives in neighbouring towns. How far will they run? Is any place in India safe for them anymore?