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A prominent Muslim leader on Monday urged the government to halt its "hate campaign" against madarasas, and said it should first prove its claim that some of the Islamic seminaries were hubs of terrorism.
The head of the Islamic Council of India Mohammed M Mazhari said he refused to believe a newspaper report that quoted the Intelligence Bureau as saying that scores of madarasas in areas bordering Pakistan and Nepal were promoting fundamentalism.
"We challenge anyone to prove that the madarasas in India are hubs of terrorism. We will set fire to them if the government provides the necessary proof," Mazhari told Indo-Asian News Service.
The report allegedly prepared by the Intelligence Bureau claimed that a number of mosques and madarasas along a 10-km stretch in border districts of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Gujarat were brainwashing young Muslims.
Mazhari said: "All such reports are creating tensions. It is not fair to dub all madarasas as terrorist hideouts. The government owes the people a clarification."
Mazhari, who also heads the National Minority Development and Finance Corporation, said Muslims leaders would soon meet Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani in this regard.
Mazhari said there were about 100,000 madrasas in the country.
The government, he said, "keeps on raking up the subject of madrasas though it has no concrete evidence to prove the allegations. Has any Muslim been arrested for anti-national activities or spying in the country?"
Indo-Asian News Service
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