Protests were witnessed in all parts of the state on Friday as Muslims came out in defence of their religion and against the remark of the Pope, who had reportedly termed Islam as a religion that protected terrorists.
In the state capital, Maulana Kalbe Jawad led a procession in Old City. After the Friday prayers at the Asifi Imambara, Maulana addressed the crowd and said the Pope should appologise from the Muslims across the world for his remarks against Prophet and Islam. He said very soon a meeting of the clerics and priests from all the religions would be called on the issue and a joint startegy worked out to counter such attacks on Islam. The Maulana said he, on behalf of the Muslim community across the world, demanded death sentence for the Danish cartoonist, but this time the Christian head had accused the very root of the religion and the Pope could not be spared for this.
 |
|
He said no Muslim cleric ever condemned, criticised or accused any religion for spreading terrorism. He claimed that Jews and Christians had been targeting Muslims for decades. He said that if protests against the Danish cartoonist were big, this time the they would be bigger.
The national president of All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB), Maulana Mirza Athar Hussain, said such remarks on Islam would no longer be tolerated and very soon a protest would be held in Lucknow and other parts of the country. The general secretary of Shia National Front, Maulana Yasoob Abbas, demanded that the Union government and the state government should lodge an official protest on this remark of Pope.
At the Aishbagh Eidgah, some students of the Islamic Centre burnt an effigy of Pope and raised slogans against the US government. The Nayab Imam of Aishbagh Eidgah, Maulana Khalid Rasheed, said he had already spoken to the president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), Maulana Rabe Hasasn Nadwi, on the issue and very soon a meeting of the board would be called.
In Varanasi, at Masjid Maqboolia, people came out on the street after the Friday prayers and burnt effigies of Pope. In Maghar, at Sant Kabirnagar district, members of the minority community demonstrated against the Pope and same was repeated at the Nai Bazar in Tulsipur tehsil of Balrampur district.
Officials of Home department said the situation was under control and security had been tightened in the areas dominated by the minority community.