Dimapur, November 2 (MExN): Altogether four ‘bonafide’ Muslim businessman owning shops in New Market Dimapur have been killed within a span of eight months this year. This is a cause of great concern for the Muslim Council of Dimapur which believes that if the present trend continues, the community would face serious problems in the future.
Podurul Islam, a poultry trader was abducted and his body recovered at 4th mile on February 2; former Muslim Council president Furkanuddin Ahmed was shot dead on March 3; Fukrul Isam, a second hand dealer, was shot dead at his shop on April 23 and the most recent one, Moklisur Rahman, was critically injured in the head on November 1 and later succumbed to his injuries at Faith Hospital on November 2 early morning. Not a single perpetrator involved in the four killings have been arrested, the Muslim council of Dimapur lamented. Even the motive behind the killings have not been ascertained, although the police usually suspect most of the killings to be related with “extortion”cases.
“This is the worst year for our (Muslim) community,” said A Rahman, the working president of the influential Muslim Council. Besides, the global phenomenon of Muslims being termed ‘terrorists’ and ‘Jehadis’, what is more unsettling for bonafide Muslim members in Dimapur is the general feeling among the populace about the menace created by illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from neighbouring areas especially Assam state.
“Over the years, the Muslim population in Dimapur has increased so much and the Muslim Council Dimapur has not been able to fully check the population,” admitted Rahman. He asserted that there are many law-abiding and bonafide Muslim citizens of Dimapur who have settled in the city for so many years and who have also been grated the Non-Naga Indigenous status by the government. However, the Muslim Council is disturbed by the large number of Bangladeshi migrants in the city from small pockets in Assam.
“What the bonafide Muslim community are worried about the large influx of migrants from other areas outside Dimapur.” Not ruling out the possibilities of migrant Muslims in the crimes happening in Dimapur, Rahman appealed the appealed the Nagas to differentiate between the bonafide Muslim citizens and the migrants, saying that most of the problems can be solved that way. “The eventualities of what happens in Dimapur are not their concern since they (migrant) return to their places in the evening and don’t live in the city,” he said.
Rahman opined that Nagas are very hospitable and cooperative by nature and that ‘people take advantage of it’. Interestingly, A Rahman disclosed that he has been targeted by the migrant Muslims since he advocated among the bonafide Muslim citizens of Dimapur to distance and separate themselves from the migrant Muslims by having a separate Mosque, burial grounds etc.
As the law enforcing grapples with the law and order situation, Muslim community in Dimapur who make up the bulk of the business community in Dimapur are a worried lot, caught between being branded jehadis and a law abiding citizens. “We have been living here for so many years since the 1900’s…and when Dimapur became part of Nagaland, we decided to come under Nagaland…we love this place…we are also law abiding citizens,’ said Rahman.
