Ghazanfar Abbas, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, Nov 19: Hundreds of common Muslims and clerics, under the leadership of their top religious leaders, held a big protest demonstration near the Parliament House here on Friday against the ongoing India visit of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin. While expressing deep concern on the growing India-Israel relations, they demanded establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestine state. Rivlin is in India on a weeklong tour (14-21 Nov).
Addressing the public gathering, national president of Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, Qari Syed Mohammad Usman Mansoorpuri said, “It has been against our culture and tradition to welcome an oppressor. We express our disappoint over the absence of India from the voting conducted by UNESCO on the Al-Aqsa mosque issue and the Prime Minister comparing the surgical strikes of the Indian army on Pakistani side with the illegal Israeli strikes against Palestinians.”
“The Indian Government should revisit its relationship with the tyrant and expansionist Israel following into the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and should not violate the traditional friendship of India with the weaker and oppressed people around the world,” he said.
General Secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Mohammad Salim Engineer said, “Israel was founded with oppression. Palestine will get its right and we will not allow anyone to destroy our country too. We want to tell the government that this relationship will lead to the destruction of all Indians.”
Leaders of religious Muslim organizations at an event to oppose India visit of Israeli president Reuven Rivlin in Delhi on 18 Nov 2016. (Photo – IndiaTomorrow.net)
“You say Israel has experience to fight against terrorism. Why don’t you say Israel has experience to oppress innocents? Do you want to develop India on Israel model,” he asked.
Condemning the Israeli policies, Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor of The Milli Gazette said, “Recently, a bill has been proposed by Israeli government to limit the number of prayer calls (Azaan) from mosques, which is condemnable as it is a threat to religious freedom. We condemn the visit of Israeli president to India since Israel is a terrorist state.”
President of All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, Navaid Hamid criticized the central government over Israeli President’s visit and said, “It is a shame that Prime Minister of India says Prime Minister of Israel is his role model. It means Mahatma Gandhi is not role model for our prime minister. An oppressor can’t be India’s guest.”
Haider Naqvi, member of Majlis-e-Ulema-e-Hind said, “It is a time when all Muslim Ummah should stand against oppressor Israel. It has terrorized the whole world. The existence of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) is because of Israel. Wherever you see terrorism there is a connection of Israel.”
“Previous and present Indian Government may have relations with Israel but people of India will be with Palestine,” he said.
At the end of the program, Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind submitted a memorandum, signed by other top Muslim organizations, to the President of India Pranab Mukherjee.
“We denounce the visit (of Israeli president) which aims to strengthen Indo-Israeli ties at all levels. Relations with Israel provide financial support and legitimize the policies of a state that continues to violate international law and human rights with impunity, a state which has set up an apartheid regime against Palestine Arabs, transformed the majority of Palestinian people into refugees by expelling from their homes and destroying their villages, and brutalizes the daily lives of the people in the West Bank and Gaza, where it has been in military occupation since 1967,” the memorandum reads.
Other organizations that took part in the protest demonstration and endorsed the memorandum included Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, All India Majlis-e Mushawarat, Jama Masjid United Forum, ANHAD, Jamia collective, All India Tanzeem-e-Insaf, Mewat Vikas Sabha, Mewat Karawan, Shoulder to Shoulder, Palestine Solidarity Organisation, UK.
