Bukhari meets PM Modi over arrest of Muslim youths

With 12 Muslim youths arrested over “links” with Islamic State (IS) in recent times, the Shahi Imam of Delhi Jama Masjid on Monday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure transparency in such actions and that no innocent person is victimised.

Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari met Modi for about 30 minutes during which he sought to impress upon the prime minister the need for making the public aware of the “nature of alleged terrorist activities so that one may construe how substantial the charges were”.

The meeting came on a day a Muslim organisation representing Sufi Sunnis, All India Tanzeem Ulama-e-Islam, claiming at a seminar here that Islamic State was active in India under “different names and banners” and being funded by those from Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

In the meeting, a statement issued by Shahi Imam’s office said, Bukhari expressed concern over the detention of Muslim youths on charges of their links with IS and indulging in terrorist activities. “There should be transparency in carrying out such detentions and the nation should be made aware of the nature of the alleged terrorist activities so that one may construe how substantial the charges were,” the Shahi Imam told the prime minister.

He told Modi that there was concern among Muslims. While carrying out those detentions, Bukhari suggested that special care should be taken to ensure that the lives of innocent Muslim youths and their families were not ruined.

He also sought to draw the prime minister’s attention towards a “large number of Muslim youth languishing in jails under allegations of terrorism and no one was there to take care of them”.

Bukhari also urged Modi to review his government’s stand on not accepting the minority character of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia. According to the statement, Modi has promised to consider the issues and said that his government would not take any step that might put the communal harmony of the nation at stake. There was, however, no statement from the government.

Stop arrests, demand leaders
Top leaders of six Muslim organisations on Monday asked the Centre to “immediately stop arresting” Muslim youths on the pretext of links with IS, DHNS reports from New Delhi. They said the “fresh campaign” of detention and arrest was “an organised conspiracy to malign Islam and Muslims, suspect their patriotism, terrorise them and to get political benefits by creating hatred between Hindus and Muslims”.

The demand was raised by leaders of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (Arshad Madni), Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind (Mehmood Madni), Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadees and All India Milli Council at a joint press conference here.