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The Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid Syed Ahmed Bukhari has asked Muslims in Kanpur to show restraint, urging them not to indulge in violence.
En route to Behrampur in West Bengal on Sunday, he told rediff.com that it was time Muslim leaders sacrificed their lives to protect the sanctity of Islam in India.
Expressing disgust over the burning of the Holy Quran, he said that ordinary Muslims should now leave the matter to community leaders. He charged 'fanatic Hindu outfits' with creating communal turmoil to ''divert the Muslims' attention from other real issues''.
"In reality, such criminal, communal and subversive elements are hell-bent on diverting the Muslims' attention from real issues. During my last meeting with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, I told him that those guilty of burning the Holy Quran must be punished. I added that if reports of the burning of the Quran were untrue, those responsible for flashing the news should not be spared.''
"We then lodged a first information report, based on which culprits were finally arrested. Now, when the guilty have been put behind bars, I appeal to Muslims not to get carried away by emotions. They have shed enough blood and staged protests on streets. Let us, community leaders now sacrifice our lives," Bukhari remarked.
Six persons were killed and 25 injured when the Uttar Pradesh's Provisional Armed Constabulary opened fire on a group of people protesting against the burning of the Holy Quran in Kanpur on Friday. The walled city has since been under indefinite curfew.
Bukhari came down heavily on the National Democratic Alliance Government for the alleged role of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and many of its ministers in the defence scandal. He accused the Central government of being ''a bunch of traitors, who struck a deal of selling their motherland for Rs 100,000''.
"Not so long ago, the Sangh Parivar said Indian Muslims were anti-national and foreign agents. Now, the truth is out for every one to see as to who is a traitor. Do the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, Shiv Sena, Vishwa Hindu Parishad or the BJP have any answers in their defence now? What can one say about a government whose ministers and leaders attempted to sell their country? The NDA has no moral justification to continue in power after the Tehelka tapes expose," Bukhari said.
Bukhari felt that the Congress and BJP were two sides of a coin.
The West Bengal Left Front also came under attack from the Jama Masjid Imam, who said the Jyoti Basu Government had worsened the plight of Muslims in Bengal during its 24 years of rule. According to him, the only way out for Indian Muslims was to form a political party, which could safeguard their interests.
Bukhari's assertion of having a political party for Indian Muslims had triggered a nation-wide controversy last year.
He, however, appeared ambiguous when asked to comment on whether he would now urge Bengal's Muslims to vote for Trinamul Congress chief Mamata Banerjee after she dissociated herself from the BJP. Heaping praise on the former Union railway minister, Bukhari said that she was a ''dynamic and decent lady''.
"But before I make up my mind on whether to support her party, I must expect Mamata to explain as to what would she give Muslims. After all, every political party has been exploiting our community for ages. This practice must come to an end," he said
He iterated his stand on the Taleban Government's decision to destroy statues of historical significance in Afghanistan, saying that neither the Vajpayee Government nor any country had any moral right to criticise the Taleban.
Bukhari said that he could have persuaded the Taleban not to destroy the Buddha statues in Bamiyan province, had the Vajpayee Government accepted his two conditions: the prime minister must admit that the destruction of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 was the most shameful act in Indian history and the removal of Ramlala statues must be ordered from the premises of the mosque in Ayodhya immediately.
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