In the first week of September, a man named Mohammed Hasnain and his son fled to Pakistan seeking asylum on the grounds of religious persecution in India. In a ground report published on 15th October by Swarajya Magazine, authored by Swati Goel Sharma, it came to light that the actions of Hasnain have left his neighbours bewildered. Hasnain was a resident of Gautampuri colony, located 2 km from Seelampur Metro Station in Delhi. He became an instant hit among the Pakistani media over his claims of religious persecution in India.
The Gautampuri colony’s T-block is a predominantly Muslim-populated area in northeast Delhi where the anti-Hindu riots of 2020 took place. Hasnain was a well-known lawyer in the Muslim community in the area. He established a political party named the Qaumi Party of India. He contested in multiple elections, including Lok Sabha elections in 2004, 2009 and 2014, and the Delhi Assembly Polls in 2013. The most number of votes he secured was in 2009 when he got a total of 3,000 votes.
Hasnain also ran “The Media Profile”, a Hindi-Urdu newspaper that ceased publication around seven years ago. He published several controversial editorials in his newspaper. For example, in one of his editorials from 14 August 2015, Hasnain lamented the absence of Muslim rule in India since the British colonial rule ended in 1947. He claimed Muslims were suffering in India as limited land was allocated to them after the independence.
In another editorial, he claimed the future of Indian Muslims was grim. He predicted they would face meat deprivation, mutilation, poisoned food, starving children due to arbitrary curfews, and a ban on the burqa. He even claimed there would be demolition of mosques.
According to Swarajya’s ground report, on 5th September, Hasnain informed his neighbours that he and his son Ishaq Ameer would be travelling to Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates for work. They were expected to return in ten days. However, three weeks later, the police arrived at Hasnain’s house and questioned about his whereabouts. His neighbour Mohammed Azad’s wife, Shabnam, told Swarajya that police visits were distressing for the neighbours.
Azad lived in the same house as Hasnain, occupying different sections. The landlord, Mohammed Bablu, lives in a different block. Hasnain separated from his wife in 1993. Hasnain was originally from Jamshedpur in Jharkhand but lived in Delhi for over five decades. He worked as a private tutor and taught law and English to the local children.
Hasnain’s neighbours claimed they were not in contact with him since he left India. Furthermore, his Indian numbers remained off. Some of the neighbours expressed their dismay over his actions. They said the area is mostly peaceful and lived without threats. They were perplexed by his decision, especially considering that the Hindu residents in the neighbourhood had sold their houses and moved away in recent years.
The report of Hasnain applying for asylum in Pakistan was published in OpIndia on 29th September. They claimed to have faced threats stemming from religious persecution in India. They recounted their journey from Delhi to Pakistan, which included travelling to Abu Dhabi, Afghanistan, and ultimately crossing into Pakistan without proper documentation with the assistance of agents. Upon reaching Karachi, they surrendered to the Sindh police chief’s office, explaining their flight from India. The Sindh police provisionally accepted their story and placed them in a shelter home. Hasnain claimed that Muslims in India were forcibly converted to Hinduism and harassed for their Islamic faith.
According to a neighbour, Mohammed Alam, a student of Hasnain, he had at least two police cases registered against him. One of the cases was related to the protest he had organised for Rohingya Muslims. Furthermore, he said that Hasnain did not register his political party with the government. Hasnain maintained his presence in the community using social gatherings and a Facebook account. Though most of the social media posts on his account were deleted, the description pointed out that the ‘Qaumi Party of India’ is a Muslim-led political party, emphasising its commitment to the Muslim community.
