Israel embassy car attack: Kazmi ‘honest’, but few vouch for his innocence

NEW DELHI: The storm raised by the arrest of journalist Syed Mohammad Ahmad Kazmi on Tuesday afternoon has revealed a line between those who vouch for his integrity and those who believe he is innocent. When a 500-strong group of worshippers gathered at Jorbagh’s Karbala mosque early on Friday to pray for Kazmi’s release, the latter were revealed to be in a minority.
Few apart from the 50-year-old’s family are protesting his innocence in the case. Five days before his Class XII accountancy exam, Kazmi’s son was running to and fro between the police station and the court. “I have an exam on March 15 but the only thing on my mind now is to ensure that my father comes out clean. It took him 25 years to build that clean image,” said Farhan (name changed) holding a bunch of photographs of his father with dignitaries from prime minister Manmohan Singh to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the late controversial Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
“My dad is another Geelani (the Parliament attack accused). I am sure he will walk out clean,” said the 17-year-old, sitting in the residence-cum-office at their house in BK Dutt Colony on Friday evening.
Kazmi, who was picked up by Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Tuesday afternoon, is known for his extreme and radical views on the Palestine-Israel conflict. At the Karbala mosque, the imam, Maulana Talib Hussain, said, “This is the first time a Shia Muslim has been picked up on terror charges. We really want him to be proved innocent”. The imam said he had seen Kazmi visiting the mosque for over 20 years but, “I have never had much interaction with him; he looked like an honest man”.
Even Kazmi’s defence lawyer Vijay Aggarwal vouched for his ‘honesty’, refraining from giving him a clean chit. He said, with all the evidence the police had gathered against Kazmi, they could have made him a witness instead of an accused in the case. Senior journalist Saeed Naqvi said, “Beyond a point I don’t know...but for me he (Kazmi) was a dear and valued colleague”.
Contradictory statements from Kazmi’s extended family have done nothing to clear the air. While his two sons maintain that the moped allegedly used to do a recce of the crime spot belonged to one of their uncles in Meerut and had not been used for two years, a distant cousin, Ali, said it was being used by an Iranian national a few months ago. He later retracted from his statement saying he was confused.
“That moped has been parked in our house for the last two years and belongs to one of our uncles in Meerut who would come here for his kidney treatment at AIIMS. He, however, passed away one-and-a-half years ago. Since then it has stood untouched,” said Shauzab, Kazmi’s elder son.