News Analysis India

Tag: Ajmer Dargah

  • Spiritual head of Ajmer Dargah welcomes govt decision to ban PFI

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: The spiritual head of Ajmer Dargah Zainul Abedin Ali Khan on Wednesday welcomed the Central government’s decision to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) for its alleged terror activities.

    The Deewan of the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti said the action was taken in compliance with the law and to prevent terrorism. It should be welcomed by all, he said.

    “If the country is safe then we are safe, the country is bigger than any institution or idea and if someone talks about breaking this country, breaking the unity and sovereignty here, talks about spoiling the peace of the country, then he has no right to live here,” Khan told PTI.

    He said there have been reports of “anti-national activities by PFI” and the ban imposed on it is in the interest of the country.

    ALSO READ | Ban on PFI was necessary to keep country intact: BJP General Secretary Arun Singh

    “Two years ago, I had first demanded that the government ban PFI,” the Ajmer Dargah deewan said.

    Chairman of All India Sajjadanashin Council Nasiruddin Khan also welcomed the step taken by the government. “No institution is bigger than the country,” he said.

    The Centre has banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and several of its associates for their alleged terror activities.

    The organisations which were also declared banned under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA include Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CF), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.

    ALSO READ | PFI ban a message to ‘anti-national groups’ that they will not survive in India: Karnataka CM

    The action of the Central government came days after a countrywide crackdown on the 16-year-old PFI, arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties.

    In a late Tuesday night notification, the Union Home Ministry said some of the PFI’s founding members are the leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

    Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations. It said there had been many instances of international linkages of PFI with global terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

    JAIPUR: The spiritual head of Ajmer Dargah Zainul Abedin Ali Khan on Wednesday welcomed the Central government’s decision to ban the Popular Front of India (PFI) for its alleged terror activities.

    The Deewan of the shrine of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti said the action was taken in compliance with the law and to prevent terrorism. It should be welcomed by all, he said.

    “If the country is safe then we are safe, the country is bigger than any institution or idea and if someone talks about breaking this country, breaking the unity and sovereignty here, talks about spoiling the peace of the country, then he has no right to live here,” Khan told PTI.

    He said there have been reports of “anti-national activities by PFI” and the ban imposed on it is in the interest of the country.

    ALSO READ | Ban on PFI was necessary to keep country intact: BJP General Secretary Arun Singh

    “Two years ago, I had first demanded that the government ban PFI,” the Ajmer Dargah deewan said.

    Chairman of All India Sajjadanashin Council Nasiruddin Khan also welcomed the step taken by the government. “No institution is bigger than the country,” he said.

    The Centre has banned the Popular Front of India (PFI) and several of its associates for their alleged terror activities.

    The organisations which were also declared banned under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA include Rehab India Foundation (RIF), Campus Front of India (CF), All India Imams Council (AIIC), National Confederation of Human Rights Organisation (NCHRO), National Women’s Front, Junior Front, Empower India Foundation and Rehab Foundation, Kerala.

    ALSO READ | PFI ban a message to ‘anti-national groups’ that they will not survive in India: Karnataka CM

    The action of the Central government came days after a countrywide crackdown on the 16-year-old PFI, arrest of over a hundred of its activities and seizure of several dozen properties.

    In a late Tuesday night notification, the Union Home Ministry said some of the PFI’s founding members are the leaders of the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) and the PFI has linkages with Jamat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

    Both JMB and SIMI are proscribed organisations. It said there had been many instances of international linkages of PFI with global terrorist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

  • Ajmer dargah cleric arrested for call to ‘behead’ Nupur Sharma 

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: A cleric of the Ajmer dargah, who on camera allegedly offered his house to anyone who beheads now-suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma for her controversial remark against Prophet Mohammad, has been arrested, police said on Wednesday.

    Officials said accused ‘khadim’ Salman Chisti is a “history-sheeter” and that he might have recorded the video in an inebriated condition. The Ajmer police had registered an FIR against him on Monday night. “Salman Chisti was caught last night (Tuesday). He is a history-sheeter at the Dargah police station,” Dargah police station SHO Dalbeer Singh Foujdar said.

    Ajmer Assistant Superintendent of Police Vikas Sangwan said Chisti was caught at his residence in Khadim mohalla. “Prima facie, he made the video in an inebriated condition. He is being interrogated further,” the ASP added.

    In the video, the cleric is purportedly seen and heard announcing he would gift his house to anyone who brings Sharma’s head to him. Chishti is also allegedly heard saying he would shoot her dead for insulting the Prophet.

    “You have to give a reply to all Muslim countries. I am saying this from Ajmer, Rajasthan, and this message is from Huzur Khwaja Baba ka darbar,” he purportedly says in the video, referring to the Sufi shrine that sees many Hindu visitors, apart from Muslim devotees.

    Last week, four people were arrested in connection with another provocative speech allegedly delivered at the main gate of the Ajmer dargah on June 17.

    Though that video was in circulation earlier, the arrests were made following the killing of a Udaipur-based tailor Kanhaiya Lal by two men, who said they were avenging an insult to Islam. The two men were, however, caught by the police when they were fleeing on a motorcycle in Rajsamand.

    In all, five people have been arrested in connection with the murder case, which is being handled by the National Investigation Agency.

  • Taliban maligning Islam through terror activities: Ajmer Dargah spiritual head Syed Jainul Abedin

    By PTI

    JAIPUR: Spiritual head of the Ajmer Dargah Syed Jainul Abedin on Saturday said the Taliban is maligning Islam through terror activities in the name of the “shariyat”. He said that restrictions on women and killings in the name of the Islamic law cannot be supported and are a crime in Islam.

    Terror and dictatorial activities of the Taliban are promoting hatred towards Islam in the world, the spiritual head of the Ajmer shrine said. “The Taliban is maligning Islam by terror activities in the name of shariyat (Islamic law),” Abedin said in a statement referring to attacks by the Taliban after capturing Afghanistan.

    He said that Afghanistan has fallen into the hands of brutal Taliban and the rule of destruction, restrictions on women and killings have started in this country.

    Such deeds in the name of “shariyat” are a crime in Islam and cannot be supported, he said, adding that the Taliban has interpreted the law differently to fulfil its agenda of terrorism and governance as per their agenda.

    He said people should always give a priority to the national interest. The first duty should be to save our country, maintain unity and peace and then think about ourselves, he added. “I strongly condemn those who support and welcome the illegal authority of the Taliban and their terrorist ideology,” he said.

    He further said, “The Muslim of India, being a peaceful citizen, does not support and welcome ideology of the Taliban, which is against the basic teachings of Islam.”