Attack on MIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi: The Owaisis have never sought police protection

By Syed Akbar
Hyderabad, April 30: The Owaisis have never sought police protection either for themselves or the Darussalam, the headquarters of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. 
Right from Abdul Wahed Owaisi, who took over the reins of the MIM after the police action, to the third generation Owaisi brothers, the family freely moved in the city even during the worst of communal riots without any police protection. Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi too had no armed bodyguards.
While legislators vie with one another to seek armed bodyguards and complain about "meagre" security, Asaduddin Owaisi, MP, and his younger brother Akbaruddin Owaisi, MIM floor leader in the State Assembly, have been consistently rejecting the security cover offered by the city police.
Only recently, the police had offered two bodyguards each to the Owaisi brothers, but they had turned down the offer. City police commissioner AK Khan said they have renewed the security cover offer to the MIM MP and the MLA after the Saturday's murderous attack on Akbaruddin.
Quite often the Owaisis had said their faith in God and service to people would protect them and if God willed otherwise no amount of security cover would safeguard them. The Owaisi brothers self drive their vehicles without even personal bodyguards. Old timers recall that Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi used to move freely on his Norton motorbike without fear.
Unlike the offices of other political parties, which are fortified by heavy armed guards, the Darussalam, which brims with activity, does not have even private guards. There are no metal detectors and visitors are not frisked. It's a free passage to the Darussalam and meeting Owaisi brothers comes without any hassles.