Hindu-Muslim Unity Saved 41 Lives in Uttarakhand Tunnel Rescue Operation - Munna Qureshi, Hailed as Operation's Hero
By
Syed Ali Mujtaba, New Age Islam
1 December
2023
In a
befitting reply to the Hindutva forces who are working overtime to ostracize
Muslims from India, seven Muslims and three Hindu workers united together to
rescue 41 men trapped in in Silkyara-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand on November
28. The 41 persons were trapped for 17
days since November 12.
Rescue officials with Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and
Union minister of State VK Singh after the successful completion of the rescue mission.
(PTI)
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These
Rat-Hole Miners, as they are called are; Hasan, Munna Qureshi, Naseem Malik,
Nasir Khan, Firoz Qureshi, Rashid Ansari, and Irshad Ansari, along with Monu
Kumar, Saurabh, Jatin Kumar, Ankur, Devendra who come from Delhi and
Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.
They were
called into action when the power-generated drilling machine gave way and it
took them around 26-27 hours to dig through around 12-15 meters of hole to
reach the trapped persons.
These
rescue workers who are aged between 20 and 45 dug the last stretch of the
tunnel with their hands to rescue the trapped persons. They worked in four
shifts of six hours each to make sure the work went on continuously. They dug
roughly 12 meters in cramped pipes to reach the trapped men in a hopeless
situation.
The rescue
workers are employees of Delhi-based Rockwell Enterprises, who were sent on
this special mission from Delhi by Mr Vaqeel Hasan, the head of the Rockwell
Enterprise.
In a media
briefing, Mr Vaqeel Hasan, while underscoring the diversity of faiths in his
team emphasized that the job couldn’t have been done alone. .
“In our team, there are both Hindus and
Muslims and people from both religions worked hard to save these 41 lives. None
of them could have done this alone, and this is the message I want to give to
everyone… We should all live in harmony and not spread the poison of hate. We
all want to give our 100 percent for the country… Please convey my message to
everyone.” He was briefing the media after the rescue mission was accomplished
The rescue
workers did not take any money for the work.
They said they were motivated to save the lives of 41 persons on whom
“more than 140 crore people of India and the whole world were holding deep
breath while watching this rare operation.
It won’t be
out of context to mention the deteriorating Hindu-Muslim relations in
Uttrakhand. During the last ‘Bakrid,’ festival Muslims in Uttarakhand were
barred from offering Eid prayers in Badrinath town.
Muslim
residents of Badrinath who are mostly migrant laborers working on
reconstruction projects at temples were asked by the authorities not to hold
prayers inside the town and go to Joshimath, a neighboring town, some 25 miles
away.
Hindutva
militants in Uttarakhand also called for the mass expulsion of Muslims during
the hate speech, vigilantism, and targeted communal violence in the state.
Muslims’ homes and shops were marked with an ‘X’, and Muslim residents were
forced to vacate the place.
Newspapers had reported that a letter was sent
by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad to the Tehri District Magistrate giving an
ultimatum to members of the Muslims Community to leave the Jaunpur valley and
in particular the towns of Nainbagh, Jakhar, Nagtibba, Thatyur, Saklana, Damta,
Purola, Barkot, and Uttarkashi, threatening their ethnic cleansing
Neither the
Uttrakhand government nor the administration nor the judiciary intervened to
prevent violent attacks against the Muslims in the state.
Now the
demonstration of the Hindu-Muslim unity shown in the rescue mission of the
Silkyara-Barkot tunnel sends a message that is loud and clear; Hindu-Muslim
unity remains an impregnable fort in India. The Hindutva zealots no matter how
many times chant Jai Sri Ram, cannot breach this fort of unity that is
constructed together after 1400 years of peaceful coexistence.
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Syed Ali
Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai.
URL:
https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/hindu-muslim-uttarakhand-tunnel-operation/d/131227
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