Meat shops vandalized, set on fire in UP's Hathras

AGRA: A day after a statewide crackdown on illegal abattoirs in UP, three makeshift (khokas) meat shops were vandalised and set afire by unidentified persons near Kanshiram township on Jaleswar road in Hathras district early on Wednesday morning.
While police claim that investigations are in progress and the identity of the suspects is unknown, local shopkeepers and minority leaders suspect it to be the handiwork of "right wing Hindu" outfits, which they allege have gone aggressive since the formation of the BJP government in the state.
Talking to TOI, one of the shopkeepers, Mohd Shakeel Qureshi, whose shop was burnt and vandalised, said the "aggression" by mischievous right wing Hindu activists have become "overt" since the change of guard in the state. "We are not being allowed to even run over legal businesses and are being targeted”, he said adding that such incidents were spreading insecurity among the minorities in general and those in meat trade in particular.
Mohd Shakeel (42), who has studied till class VIIth, said, "This shop was my livelihood and I don’t know anything else to do but this work." He said "ever since the BJP has come to power, we have been facing problems, and this is second such incident since the day of Holi."
He said on Holi, some unknown people had set afire on the roof of these shops but luckily the fire was put off before any major damage. He said he makes about Rs 300 or so a day from the sales. He said his poor financial situation had forced him to make his two children dropout from school.
Another shopkeeper, Mohd Sindhi Qureshi (45), whose shop was also burnt, said he is an illiterate and had suffered a loss of Rs 50,000 from this incident. "I would now have to do manual labour or restart this work after taking loan," he said adding that he has six teenaged children, including three girls. He said he was planning the wedding of one of his daughters and everything had been ruined now.
A dejected Mohd Raees Ahmed Qureshi, said he was informed about his shop being set afire by a neighbour. "I rushed but by the time I reached there, everything was gutted."
Expressing concern at such incidents, Rizvan Ahmed Qureshi, president of Muslim Aintzamia Committee in Hathras said, "Desperate efforts were being made by certain vested interests to create a rift between the two communities." Targeting BJP, Qureshi said, "Does this BJP government now want people to stop eating meat too."
He said after a crackdown on abattoirs, small vendors were now being targeted, triggering panic among minorities.
Hazi Jamiluddin Qureshi, president of Sarvadaliya Muslim Sangharsh Samiti in Agra said after coming to power, right wing Hindu hardliners had been "emboldened" by BJP’s victory. "If they really want to do something better for the society, they should close down liquor shops," he said adding that if such incidents continue, there could be communal flare up.
When contacted, Hathras superintendent of police, Dileep Srivastava said cases have been registered under relevant sections of IPC and investigations are on. He said the identity of the suspects was not known so far.