NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Parivar takes on Muslim activist for advocating jihad

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Sangh Parivar in Kerala has demanded the arrest of Delhi-based social activist and Islamic Movement of India patron Professor Khaliquzzamn for justifying the concept of jihad and calling for conversion to Islam.

Leaders in Thiruvananthapuram said the statements at the district meet of the IMI was provocative and anti-national. The IMI, they held, had maintained that Kashmir was not part of India.

"No patriotic citizen can tolerate such statements," BJP national executive committee member K Raman Pillai said.

Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad State secretary M A Vinod said that it was deplorable that such a provocative speech had been allowed -- that too, right under the nose of the government. He said the ABVP would urge the prime minister to probe the matter and arrest Prof Kaliquzzamn for his inflammatory utterances.

Prof Khaliquzzamn, invited to deliver a lecture organised by the IMI in connection with the millennium celebrations, had spoke in Urdu. The speech was translated by a local IMI activist.

The Delhi-based activist started with the strife in Kashmir. He said Allah will protect those waging jihad, whether it is in Kashmir, Chechnya, Bosnia or Iran.

"There are many obstacles in the path of Islamic activists. The youth should acquire the courage to overcome those discriminating between truth and untruth, based on Holy Quran," he said.

Several world leaders like Bill Clinton, Boris Yeltsin and Benjamin Netanyhu, he continued, were trying to suppress Islam, and they would be punished by Allah.

"The US brand the Muslims as terrorists with the ulterior motive of preventing the spread of Islam since they cannot fight it ideologically," he said.

According to the professor, secularism was a means of survival for those who did not have any ideological base. He exhorted the Muslims to work for spreading Islam and be ready to sacrifice their lives for the "noble cause."

"Allah will confer on you the ultimate reward. It is our duty to invite people to Islam," he said, adding that many in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu had converted to Islam.

The spirited speech continued for almost an hour and evoked applause from the audience several times over.

An IMI activist said that Prof Khaliquzzaman had earlier been detained under the Terrorist and Disruptive (Prevention) Act in Tihar jail. He was later acquitted. While there, he converted about 100 persons.

The activist said that Prof Khaliquzzaman, a master of technology, had helped the then Tihar inspector general Kiran Bedi to bring about many revolutionary changes in the jail.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report