Bukhari's clean chit to Abu Bashar

AZAMGARH: The Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi today came out in support of Ahmedabad serial blasts mastermind, Abu Bashar, arrested from Lucknow last week.

After meeting the family members of Bashar as part of a seven-member delegation, Bukhari took part in a "virodh sabha" in Sarai Mir township and warned against the tendency to frame "innocent" Muslims in the name of terrorism and SIMI saying it would no longer be "tolerated".

He announced that opposition to such arrests would continue at the national level and alleged that Muslims were being harassed in the name of SIMI.

Giving a clean chit to Bashar, Bukhari said he had nothing to do with the Ahmedabad blasts, and claimed terrorism was being created in the country by people like Gujarat Chief Minister, Narendra Modi, and RSS and challenged the government to arrest them and put a ban on organisations like RSS and Bajrang Dal.

After the meeting, a group of their supporters raised slogans against the government and administration and damaged three roadways buses.