Boycott call by Majlis triggers row

By Our Staff Reporter

GUNTUR, JULY 10. Consequent upon the boycott call given by the Majlis-e-Ulema (a group of Muslim religious heads) to all people belonging to Muslim religion to stay away from the ``Peace rally,'' proposed to be organised by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on July 12, the Anjuman-e-Islamia has given a call on the contrary. It wants all Muslims to take part in the rally. With the result, the whole issue of participation of Muslims in the peace rally got politicised.

Members of the Anjuman-e-Islamia Trust met here on Monday to discuss the issues that followed the bomb blast in Markaz mosque on June 25 in Guntur. The trust president, Mr. Sk. Namburu Subhani, chaired the meeting. What is noteworthy about Anjuman-e- Islamia is that the Guntur-I MLA, Mr. S.M.Ziauddin (TDP), is the secretary of the organisation, while the Majlis-e-Ulema comprised only the religious heads.

The Anjuman-e-Islamia appealed to the State Government to bring the culprits responsible for the bomb blast to book and to scrap the police cases booked against "innocents". It expressed its surprise over the call given by the Majlis-e-Ulema to the Muslim community to boycott the rally and hoist black flags on their respective houses, shops and establishments as a mark of protest. ``The religious heads are supposed to preach good things. The Muslim community in the town is peace-loving. Irrespective of castes and religions, we are all Indians first. Anjuman-e-Islamia is ready to extend support to all those who would strive for peace,'' said a press note issued by Mr. Subhani. Mr. Ziauddin also participated in the meeting.

The Guntur Town Peace Committee meeting was held on Monday under the chairmanship of the Government Khaji, Haji Khaleelullah Khan. The peace committee, in a statement, said that it was striving hard to prevent the "forcible arrests" of innocents and for the release of "innocents" who were in custody. The peace committee expressed its grief over the call given by the Majlis-e- Ulema.``Majlis-e-Ulema are our religious preachers. We all respect them. We are all Indians living together independent of our caste, creed, and religion. The Majlis-e-Ulema has no right to issue orders to the community without consulting the Anjuman-e-Islamia, peace committee and Markaz mosque. The town peace committee is strongly condemning the call given by the Ulema,''they said in a statement.

This note was signed by Haji Abdul Jabbar, Mohammed Samiullah, Haji Abdul Subhan, Haji Abdul Gaffar, Tayyab, Mahamood Khan, Haji Subhani and Sk.Namburi Subhani.

A group of TDP corporators belonging to the Muslim community in another statement said that the call by the Majlis-e-Ulema was self-recriminating. The corporators, who reiterated their commitment to peace and communal amity, called upon the people to make the peace rally a grand success.

The signatories of this statement were Haji Sheik Shoukath, Sk. Khaja Mohiuddin, Mohammed Khan, Sk. Nawab Jani (ex-corporator) and Abdul Salam (ex-corporator).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : APSRTC launches 'campaign week'
Next     : CM asks Opposition to show restraint