No room for politics in national security, Ahmed Patel tells Rajnath

Politicians should rise above political differences in matters of national security, senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel has told Home Minister Rajnath Singh while demanding "impartial" and "objective" investigation into the arrest of two alleged IS operatives in Gujarat.

"I wish to bring to your notice the recent reports of arrest of IS (Islamic State) operatives in South Gujarat... Matters of national security cannot be a prisoner of politics and neither should be reduced to baselessly maligning political opponents for petty electoral gains," Patel wrote in the letter dated October 28.

"We should rise above political differences in matters which involve national security. Framing terror charges must be done by law enforcement agencies and the judiciary and not by political leaders in press conferences from party headquarters.

"I call upon you...as the Home Minister of India instruct relevant law enforcvement agencies to take this investigation to its logical end in an impartial and objective manner. You government has my unstinted support in this endeavor," said the Congress Rajya Sabha Member from Gujarat.

He said that Gujarat is the land of Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel and the people of the state "have a proud history" of believing in peaceful co-existence.

On Saturday, the BJP had sought clarification from Congress President Sonia Gandhi over alleged links of Patel to a suspected terrorist arrested in poll-bound Gujarat.

"The investigative agencies have arrested an IS suspect from a hospital in Gujarat. Ahmed Patel is associated with the hospital. Congress will have to answer. It cannot run away," Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi had said at a press conference here.

Referring to Mohammed Qasim Stimberwala, one of the two alleged IS operatives arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorist Squad from Surat on Wednesday, Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Friday had demanded resignation of Patel from the Rajya Sabha.

Stimberwala had resigned recently as an eco-cardiogram technician in the Sardar Patel Hospital and Heart Institute in Ankleshwar where Patel used to be a trustee.

Patel was one of the trustees during the hospital's formative years and had resigned as a trustee in 2014 facilitating a new board of trustees to take over the facility.

--IANS

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