On Tuesday (May 2), ‘journalist’ Rana Ayyub courted controversy after she tried to pass off deceased gangster Atiq Ahmed as an Indian ‘lawmaker.’ She made the contentious remarks during a panel discussion at the United Nations General Assembly Hall for a panel discussion organised by UNESCO on Press Freedom.
While trying to create hysteria about supposed lawlessness in India, she claimed, “Three weeks ago, a lawmaker was shot dead live on camera. And we had people celebrating that on Twitter.”
The gangster act was brought against Atiq Ahmed a total of three times. Even while incarcerated in different jails in Uttar Pradesh, he held meetings and ran his criminal empire.
Ateeq Ahmed is a lawmaker just as Rana Ayyub is a journalist, and Osama Bin Laden is trying to reach her for his PR from the bottom of a seabed!pic.twitter.com/ZYt9pAd0AD
— INFERNO (@SmokingLiberals) May 3, 2023
Criminal record of Atiq Ahmed
The Washington Post columnist deliberately omitted the fact that Atiq Ahmed was a gangster. To be precise, 102 cases were filed against him, including those of threats, murder attempts, and kidnapping.
After Atiq Ahmed was elected as a member of Parliament from Phulpur on an SP ticket in 2004. Raju Pal of the BSP defeated Atiq Ahmed’s brother Ashraf Ahmed alias Khalid Azim in the Allahabad West by-election.
On January 25, 2005, Raju Pal and his companions were attacked by armed assailants in the vicinity of the Dhoomanganj police station in Prayagraj. An FIR was filed at the Dhoomanganj police station regarding the murder and other charges against Atiq Ahmed, his brother Ashraf, and seven unnamed people on the basis of the complaint submitted by Raju Pal’s wife Pooja.
The primary witness in the 2005 BSP MLA Raju Pal murder case, Umesh Pal, was fatally shot on February 24 in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, close to his home. The attack took the lives of two policemen assigned to guard the lawyer.
Atiq Ahmed, his son Asad Ahmed and his brother Ashraf Ahmed (an ex-MLA) were among the prime accused in the case. He was the first person who was booked under the ‘Gangster Act’ in Uttar Pradesh.
His criminal history ran very deep. He was accused of murder at the young age of 17. After that, he became so well-known in the underworld that his popularity even overshadowed that of the dons of Mumbai. Aiq Ahmed was involved in attacking Mayawati in the 1995 ‘guest house case’.
He also had ties to Pakistani terrorist organisations, according to the Uttar Pradesh Police’s charge sheet against him. The gangster admitted to having regular contact with Pakistan’s ISI, LeT, and Dawood Ibrahim’s D-Company and also received arms dropped through Pakistani drones in Punjab.
The initial complaint against him was filed way back in 1979, which in itself is a testimony of Atiq Ahmed’s long-standing criminal record.
Atiq Ahmed had hired sharpshooter and had a history of executing fake attacks
On April 15 this year, the gangster-politician and his brother Ashraf were shot dead from point-blank range in Prayagraj.
According to sources in the Uttar Pradesh police, the gangster had chosen a sharpshooter and close aide named Guddu Muslim to execute a fake attack on him. However, the plan is said to have backfired on Atiq Ahmed, leading to his death.
Notably, in 2002, while in police custody, Atiq Ahmed plotted to have himself attacked while being taken to a district court for a hearing. At that time, a crude bomb was thrown at him, and Atiq Ahmed sustained minor injuries to his head and arm. Later, it turned out that Ahmed himself planned the attack.
Rana Ayyub chose to withhold the criminal background of the deceased gangster and the circumstances leading up to his eventual assassination. She instead made a passing remark about a ‘lawmaker’ being ‘killed on live air’ to fearmonger about India and its law and order situation before a global audience.
Media whitewashes Atiq Ahmed
It must be mentioned that a similar tactic was earlier adopted by Western media publications, including Reuters and Associated Press, wherein it lay more emphasis on the political career of Atiq Ahmed than his criminal background.
BBC News went a step ahead and weave a sorry tale around the gangster’s childhood days. Citing former Uttar Pradesh DGP Vikram Singh, BBC highlighted how the gangster Atiq Ahmed was a sort of ‘Robinhood’ who helped people in distress.
