Syed Ali Ahmed | India Tomorrow

  

NEW DELHI, MAY 16—Releasing the statistics of the foreign Tablighi Jamaat members stranded in the country owing to lockdown due to coronavirus crisis, Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind( Arshad faction) president Maulana Arshad Madani has said that “the government’s silent support to give a religious colour to the coronavirus through biased media is regrettable”.

 

Stating that there were only 1640 foreign Tablighi members from 46 countries and only 64 of them were found Covid-19 positive but all of them recovered and later on tested to be negative, the media and the government made a mountain out of the molehill.

 

As for the death of Tablighi members from Covid-19, only two of them died and the reasons for their death are also contested. While the government says that they died of coronavirus, their colleagues and social workers working at quarantine centres said the two died of lack of food and medicines. Besides this, there were few positive cases of Tablighis but all of them recovered and many of them also donated blood plasma for transfusion to serious Covid-19 patients in hospitals.

  

“But the media falsely accused the Tablighi Jamaat of spreading coronavirus infection across the country. This created an atmosphere of hatred against Muslims all over the country that led even led to mob attacks on them, killing them in lynching, boycott of Muslim vegetable and fruit sellers. This is violating not only the law of the country but the whole world. The country was discredited and the government remained a silent spectator”, said Madani.

  

Regarding the percentage of Tablighis or Muslims infected by coronavirus, he said the media gave different figures at different times.

 

 

“Of the total pandemic patients, sometimes they say that Tablighis are 20 per cent, sometimes 25 per cent and sometimes 30 percent though the Jamaat activists have been releasing videos saying that their reports are negative”, Madani said.

 

  

He said that not only the media but also some senior ministers of state governments tried to defame Muslims under the pretext of Tablighi Jamaat.

 

Stating that there are more than 80,000 cases of corona in the country at present, he questioned, “Why the government and media do not present the statistics of Muslims?”

  

Pointing out that the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations reacted strongly to the government and the media actions, yet the government, he said, continued to provide separate figures in the name of the Tablighi Jamaat until it had achieved the goal (hatred against Muslims).

  

Madani said that the media loudly spread false propaganda against the chief of Tablighi Jamaat Maulana Mohammed Saad and his family for increasing coronavirus in the country. The government has locked the Tablighi Jamaat Markaz at Nizamuddin. “Maulana Saad and his family tested negative. This proves that the corona virus has nothing to do with the Jamaat but the coronavirus was converted to Islam by the media”, said the Jamiat chief.

  

Jamiat leader said, “The irresponsible attitude of the media has poisoned the whole society which is extremely dangerous for a democratic and secular country. When the country is fighting against Corona, millions of workers are on the streets in the country, and millions of people are starving, at such a time, the media gave much attention to the Tablighi Jamaat. It is not possible without organized conspiracy and without support of the people in government”.

 

List of the countries to which foreign Tablighis stranded in India belong to:

 

1.Indonesia 755.

2. Bangladesh 151.

3. Malaysia 170.

4. Kyrgyzstan 81.

5. Kazakhstan 16.

6. Myanmar(Burma) 144.

7. Sudan 24.

8. Singapore 1.

9. South Africa 1.

10. Saudi Arabia 1.

11. Philippines 8.

12. Russia 1.

13. Sri Lanka 44.

14. Nigeria 1.

15. Mozambique 1.

16. Morocco 2.

17. Nepal 1.

18. Kenya 3.

19. Iran 15.

20. Palestine 3.

21. Ivory coast 12.

22. Ghana 1.

23. France 5.

24. Gambia 2.

25. Ethiopia 8.

26. Djibouti 10.

27. China 4.

28. United Kingdom.

29. Congo 1.

30. USA 2.

31. Vietnam 12.

32. Trinidad and Tobago 2.

33. Tanzania 12.

34. Tunisia 1.

35. Brunei 4.

36. Thailand 86.

37. Syria 1.

38. Belgium 2.

39. Brazil 6.

40. Australia 2.

41. Algeria 7.

42. Fiji 15.

43. Senegal 1.

44. Afghanistan 2.

45. Philippines 8.

46. Ukrain 3.

 

About 739 foreign Tablighis are in Delhi and the rest are in other states of India.