Delhi Minorities Commission chairman Zafarul Islam in a letter to Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said that due to insensitive briefing by government officials and sensational media coverage every “Tablighi person” in the country became a suspect.
They were being hunted down and placed under quarantine amid propaganda that they were “hiding” and “evading”, it said.
“Mere past relationship of someone with the religious congregation in New Delhi does not make him a suspect. Instead, only those who were inside the centre or visited it or came in contact with such persons outside the centre after the epidemic was discovered should be searched and quarantined,” the DMC said.
“In many places in the country, members of the group are being hunted only because they belong to the Tablighi Jamaat with no proof that they were in the religious gathering at the said time or came in contact with anyone who was there at the time,” it said.
Issue instructions
The commission requested the Home Minister to issue instructions to the police and health officers not to harass the members of the group who were not part of the religious gathering at the given time or had no contact with those who were stranded there when the lockdown was declared.
“While every Tablighi is a Muslim, not every Muslim is a Tablighi. This has caused harassment of Muslims in both urban and rural areas across the country. A clear instruction may be issued to all concerned to avoid usage of vague words and descriptions about Tablighi Jamaat which has put millions of Muslims to inconvenience,” the DMC said.
