Following a series of arrests of Muslim youth for affiliation with the ISIS in the country, the Modi government swung into action on Tuesday with home minister Rajnath Singh calling a meeting of prominent Muslim leaders, seeking their help to wean away the youth from the dreaded terror outfit and formulate counter tactics to ward off the ‘’radicalisation’’ attempts. At the first-of-its-kind meeting, where the home minister, NSA Ajit Doval, IB chief and senior officers were present, the attempt was also to bridge the ‘’trust deficit’’ between the Modi government and the minority community. Notably, the Muslim leaders minced no words and demanded the revival of the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, reminding the NDA government that the Bill was piloted first by none other than senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj during the UPA-I tenure as the chairman of parliamentary standing committee on home affairs.
The Muslim leaders also minced no words in demanding appropriate action on Hindu sena and other ring-winged outfits, a concern which was dismissed by the Intelligence brass as a ‘’social media’’ creation but shot down by the Muslim leaders who apprised the home minister of the media footage exposing them, top sources said.
The Muslim leaders demanded the setting up of an interfaith dialogue commission, on the lines in some other countries, where social and religious leaders of all faiths can come together and discuss significant concerns and a review Committee to review cases of 70,000 Muslims languishing in jails, where in many cases chargesheets have also not been filed. They pointed out that the Communal Violence Bill is urgently required to reign in officers who arrest ‘’innocent minority youth.’’
To tackle ISIS threat, in a major step, it was decided that the Imams will appeal to the youth through Friday prayers in mosques across states not to fall prey to the evil designs of the ISIS which is not working in the interests of the Muslim community but is mis-using the faith to attract the gullible youth to perpetrate violence.
Offering suggestions to the government to bring down communal incidents, Mr M.J. Khan, president of Indian Muslims Research and Coordination Centre, said that the state government’s Central assistance must be linked to bring down communal violence and states which do so should be rewarded.
Sources said while the focus of Tuesday’s meeting was largely Muslim youth in the northern states, another meet of prominent Muslim leaders of Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala will be held soon to formulate strategy to counter the influence of the terrorist group.
