The Hindu : Front Page : Muslims’ meet condemns terrorism

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Tuesday, Feb 26, 2008
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Muslims’ meet condemns terrorism

Atiq Khan

Questions the ‘targeting’ of the minority community; assails ‘tilt’ towards West

LUCKNOW: The alleged hounding of Muslims by the police, bureaucracy and the intelligence agencies in the name of terrorism was strongly condemned at an anti-terrorism convention at Darul Uloom, Deoband in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Monday.

A resolution assailed the Union government’s “tilt” towards the West, particularly the United States. It said “targeting” the biggest minority community of the country raised a question mark over the nation’s secular democratic credentials.

Secretary of Jamaat-I-Islami (JII) Mujtaba Farooque told The Hindu from Deoband that the speakers at the convention criticised what they called “marginalisation” of Muslims. They asked the community to remain calm and exercise patience, make an independent analysis of the scenario and lodge a peaceful protest whenever such a need arose.

Mr. Mujtaba said India was dubbed a “police state” just as Turkey and Pakistan were termed “military states” by some speakers.

Condemning terrorism of all types and forms, the resolution dwelt on the international scenario and said the West professed double standards on democracy and human rights as was evident in the case of Israel, Palestine, the Hamas, Iraq and Afghanistan. The resolution alleged that a section of the media was “hijacked” by the West and the U.S., which had manifested in slanted reports in a section of the print and electronic media.

The one-day convention was addressed by Maulana Arshad Madni, president of Jamiatul Ulema-i-Hind; Maulana Jalaluddin Umri, chief of Jamaat-I-Islami; Maulana Salim Qasmi of Darul Uloom Waqf, Deoband; Maulana Mahmud Madni; Maulana Salman Hasani Nadwi of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema, Lucknow; and Maulana Salfi of Darul Salfiya, Varanasi.

Representatives from about 6,000 madrasas from all over the country, ulemas and representatives of different organisations attended the conference.

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