Hyderabad, October 29: Hundreds of students and staff of the Sultan-ul-Uloom Educational Society took to the streets on Wednesday protesting the attack on their joint secretary, Nisar Ahmed, at Banjara Hills on Tuesday. The office-bearers of the Society alleged that police inaction led to the attack.
Tension prevailed at the Sultan-ul- Uloom Educational Society on Banjara Hills Road No. 3 as hundreds of students blocked the road on both sides resulting in a major traffic snarl on Wednesday morning. Deploring the attack by ‘goondas’ on Nisar Ahmed, they demanded stern action against the culprits.
The educational society’s joint secretary Nisar Ahmed escaped a bid on life near his house at Banjara Hills on Tuesday when an unidentified armed assailant tried to attack him. Nisar Ahmed escaped with an injury on his right shoulder.
Hundreds of students and staff members took out a rally from the Sultan-ul- Uloom premises and spilled on to the roads blocking traffic on both sides.
With no policemen around to stop the protestors, traffic came to a standstill on the main road for more than 30 minutes.
The irate students damaged a car which forcibly tried to make its way out of the blockade.
The students and staff, however, dispersed after police reached there.
Meanwhile, Society vice-chairman Zafar Ahmed and other office-bearers alleged that police inaction had led to the attack. Admitting that there were disputes over the ownership of a piece of land belonging to the Society, the office-bearers said they were not sure who the attackers were and what their motive was.
“Some of our office-bearers have been receiving threatening calls since the past few days and even some antisocial elements entered the campus threatening them of dire consequences, if the land which is in dispute is not vacated,” Zafar Ahmed said.
According to Zafar Ahmed, the Society was started in 1980 after purchasing the 24-acre land from the Prince Moazzam Jah Trust. “There was no problem for over two decades. In early 2000, Prince Shahmat Ali Khan, son of Moazzam Jah, claimed ownership of the land. Later in 2006, three of his sisters, Fatima Fouzia, Amena Marzia and Oolia Kulsoom also started claiming ownership.
Cases were pending in various courts over the said property,” the vicechairman said. Recently, some people began claiming that they had purchased a five-acre land on the eastern side of the campus from Moazzam Jah’s heirs and were threatening our office-bearers.
“We approached the police, right from Director-General of Police to the Station House Officer of Punjagutta on October 18 seeking protection at the campus and for the office-bearers, but no action was taken,” the Society’s Honorary Secretary Khaja Ruknuddin said.
DCP West Zone C Ravi Verma said the Sultan-ul-Uloom Society had not approached them for protection. “They have not asked us for any protection,” he said. “It is an attack by an individual on the joint secretary. We are also probing the possibility of some of students, who were either suspended or debarred by the college authorities being involved in the attack,” he added.
—Agencies