BY MWINYI SADALLAH
4th November 2012
The ruling party (CCM) in Zanzibar has said that the recent political clashes fomented by followers of an Islamic revival group in Zanzibar has caused massive destruction of properties and deaths of an innocent policeman, were an affront to basic human rights.
The position was expressed by an official of the party secretariat, Issa Haji Gavu when speaking to journalists at the party’s Isles head offices at Kisiwandui in Zanzibar town on Thursday.
He said that the action taken by the group of beating up a police officer to death is a gross violation of human rights, requesting people involved with defending the rights of the people to condemn the malpractice.
He said the act committed by the group is a breach of clause 13 (1) (2) of the constitution, which relate to the rights of being alive, noting that he was surprised by human rights activists who have failed to raise queries or concern about the matter since the incident happened on 17th October.
The ruling party was surprised by the silence shown by human rights activists since the occurrence of acts likely to disrupt the peace, when many shops, churches and CCM-related buildings were set on fire by the notorious group of people.
Gavu noted that the ruling party strongly condemns the act and has asked state security organs to conduct thorough investigations and make sure that legal measures are taken against people involved in one way or another.
The Zanzibar constitution of 1984 section 12 (1) states that “all people are treated equally before the law and have rights without any discrimination to be guided and given equal opportunity before the law.”
“We are surprised by Zanzibari human rights activists to maintain silence over the matter, and yet basic human rights were violated, including acts of setting fire to churches and other damage caused by the Islamic revival group,” he said.
Declaring that he doesn’t believe that such clashes were caused by the debate on the union, he said that churches and alcoholic shops were there before the union.
Churches in Zanzibar started being built in the year 1874, a full 90 years before the union came about in 1964, he pointed out.
He also demanded that people suspected to have been involved in the clashes should be held and taken before courts of law.
The opposition CUF has asked the government to probe the matter and take legal action against people who were involved in the disturbances.
Deputy secretary general Salum Bimani Abdalla said in a statement that since the incident occurred the state has been using force to harass innocent people, leaving behind the real culprits.
Zanzibar Police Commissioner Mussa Ali Mussa said people arrested in connection with the incident were spotted in pictures picked by filming equipment stationed in various streets in Zanzibar.
The police force showed the video pictures on Zanzibar Television and ordered those picked to surrender to various police stations, he said.
Suspects of the recent clashes refused to surrender and that is why the police mounted a search in their hideouts before they escape from the Isles, he further noted.
Three people suspected to have killed an FFU policeman are being held by the police in Tanga and will be ferried back to Zanzibar to face murder charges once investigations are completed.
The 17th October events were the fifth in a series of clashes by the Islamic revival group since launching a campaign for dismantling the union, observers noted.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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