Prominent Muslims condemn hijack

Prominent Muslims condemn hijack
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

BANGALORE, DECEMBER 31: Prominent Muslims in India have condemned the hijack crisis involving 154 innocent people at Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Concerned Muslims such as Ammer Shariat Karnataka Mufti Ashraf Ali, former Governor S M H Burney, TDP General Secretary Lal Jan Basha, former Maharastra Minister and Anjuman-e-Islam president Ishaq Jamkhanwallah, AIMES (Karnataka) president Syed Ashfaq Peeran and former Cabinet Secretary Zafar Saifullah have expressed concern over the hijack.

``We are horrified and disgusted by the hijack crisis in which 154 innocent people are held hostage by heartless gangsters who profess to be followers of Islam,'' said a statement issued by Peeran.

Pointing out that they were also disgusted by the `partisan gloating of others over the real or imagined incompetence displayed by the Indian authorities in dealing with the crisis, the statement said ``no true follower of Islam can ignore the fact that this is not a time to debate on trivial issues when the lives of 154 innocentsare at stake.''

Peeran has called upon Muslims to unequivocally condemn all acts of terrorism undertaken in the name of Islam or any other religion. ``Terrorism in the nuclear age is unthinkable. The tactic of linkling partisan political demands to the name of Islam and then indulging in terrorist actions to further their aims is a diabolical device to confuse Muslims,'' he has said.

``Islam teaches trusth and stands for peace. Real followers of Islam pursue their ends by only honourable principles,'' Peeran has stated.