After Dadri, Muslim clerics call all-religion seminar

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“Earlier, Mufti Abul Qasim Nomani, the rector of Deoband seminary, was also expected to attend the seminar but he had some last minute engagements and is unavailable,” Maulana Mohammad Khalid Qasmi, organiser of the seminar told The Indian Express.

“We still have blessings of Maulana Nomani as we all are alumni of the Deoband seminary. Even our madrasas in Ghaziabad region are run as per the directions from Deoband,” Qasmi said.

Spelling out reasons for organising the peace conference, Qasmi said that after the alleged lynching in Dadri, which is close to Ghaziabad, incidents of intolerance have increased between both the communities. “Now there is distrust between both the communities. Recently, some of our teachers (clerics) were stopped by members of the other community. Sarcastic comments were made against us. Both the communities have lost the harmony, which existed between them,” Qasmi said.

Qasmi claimed that villagers, both Hindus and Muslims, from the region have been invited in large numbers to attend the seminar. “We have been living here for ages and will continue to do so. We have to revive the harmony. We can sort out the issue when people from both the communities and religious heads from both the communities share the stage. There is an urgent need for peace and we want to establish it,” he added.

“We stand for peace and will make our efforts to end the hostility between the two communities,” Maulana Habeebur Rehman Saani, Shahi Imam, Ludhiana told The Indian Express.