Bihar Min welcomes Saudi's crackdown on Tablighi Jamaat; cites Pakistan's terror links

Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey on Sunday welcomed Saudi Arabia's crackdown on orthodox missionary movement Tablighi Jamaat, saying that it was necessary to break organisations related to terrorism. Citing Pakistan as an example, Pandey stated that the world had already seen the proof of the Imran Khan-led nation's involvement in guarding and promoting terrorism. The Minister stated that for world peace, it was necessary for nations to break such terror groups. "We have seen proof of Pakistan's involvement in guarding and promoting terrorism. For world peace, we have to break all the organizations related to terrorism. So we'll welcome if any country tries to eliminate it," Bihar Minister Mangal Pandey told news agency ANI.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya also tweeted on Saudi Arabia's action against Tablighi Jamaat reminding how the group violated COVID-19 protocols by holding a massive congregation in 2020. 

On December 10, Saudi Arabia’s Friday preachers were directed to warn people against Tablighi Jamaat and its ‘misguidance that leads to terrorism.' Issuing a detailed thread on Twitter, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Islamic Affairs called the group a 'gateway to terrorism'. 

Saudi Arabia warns people against Tablighi Jamaat

In line with the order, the Kingdom’s Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr Abdullateef Aal-Sheikh ordered preachers of the mosques to dedicate the next Friday sermon, to raise warnings against the Tablighi and Dawah group and raise four major points. These include, “Declaration of the misguidance, deviation and danger of this group, and that it is one of the gates of terrorism; Mention of their most prominent mistakes;  Mention their danger to society; and Statement that affiliation with partisan groups, including (the Tablighi and Da’wah Group) is prohibited in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

The Ministry's Twitter post read, “His Excellency the Minister of Islamic Affairs, Dr ⁧‫Abdullateef Al-Sheikh‬⁩, the preachers of mosques in which Friday prayers are held, are instructed to dedicate the next Friday sermon 6/5/1443 AH to warn against (the Tablighi and Da’wah group)." 

Tablighi Jamaat, which originated in India in 1926 during British rule, is estimated to have 350 to 400 million members across the globe. United States Institute of Peace has described the group as an “Islamic revivalist organization” before noting that, in nations such as the UK, France, and America, the group “has appeared on the fringes of several terrorism investigations, leading some to speculate that its apolitical stance simply masks ‘fertile ground for breeding terrorism.’”

Image: PTI/ANI/AP