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Out of 669 COVID-19 cases in Delhi, 426 linked to Tablighi Jamaat, says Delhi Health Minister

OpIndia Staff
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Out of 669 COVID-19 cases in Delhi, 426 linked to Tablighi Jamaat, says Delhi Health Minister

Delhi’s Health Minister Satyendra Jain said on Thursday that 669 positive cases for Coronavirus have been reported in the national capital so far. Out of the 669 cases, 426 belong to the Tablighi Jamaat event held at Nizamuddin Markaz last month.

Jain while speaking to ANI said that rapid testing for COVID-19 will be started as soon as the testing kits arrive. He said, “Testing will be first done with COVID-19 hotspots in the city. We have demanded the rapid testing kits from the centre and the centre has given orders to companies as well.”

As the scare of the novel epidemic is rapidly increasing with the increase in the number of cases, the Delhi government sealed 20 ‘hotspots’ where the cases of coronavirus are found the most in order to curb the epidemic.

Jain further added, “The areas which are sealed are small and home delivery will be provided there. If people do not follow lockdown then there will be more difficulties in future.”

On the incident of assault on women resident doctors outside Safdarjung hospital. Jain said, “If this has happened then the legal action will be taken against the culprit. There should be no discrimination against the doctors, paramedics and against those who are providing essential services in these times.”

A 44-year old man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting the resident doctors of Safdarjung hospital who went out for buying fruits, accusing them of spreading Coronavirus.

Gujarat cities with live coronavirus patients pinned on Google Maps will show you how close the virus is

Nirwa Mehta
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Gujarat cities with live coronavirus patients pinned on Google Maps will show you how close the virus is

City administration in Ahmedabad and Surat in Gujarat, in their daily coronavirus bulletin, have been giving out information of individuals who have been diagnosed with COVID-19. The Surat Municipal corporation has also been pinning residential details on maps so that people in the localities where there are coronavirus positive cases could be alert.

Surat Municipal corporation pins coronavirus positve cases on maps.

Similarly, Amdavad Municipal Corporation, too, has been giving out details of individuals who have been tested positive. While the corporation does not have an official map, Ahmedabad-based techies volunteered and have been pinning locations on Google based on the inputs provided by the corporation.

Google MyMaps on live coronavirus positive cases in Ahmedabad

One of the volunteers, Abhay Jani, who created the above map said that they source it from the data released by the AMC.

Public listing of such addresses does raise a question regarding the privacy of individuals, especially that of the social stigma that could come attached to being coronavirus positive. However, it is for the bigger good says Jani. “I may remove the data if authorities raise concern at large but this pinning of individuals on maps only helps people understand how near/far they are from X residential society where COVID-19 cases are found,” he says.

“I talked to journalists and people working with authorities here and they all told me privacy of citizens is highest priority. However, if they are putting out details in public, that means they are taking strict measures and want people to come forward if they came in touch with these individuals. Or at best stay at home if they are in red zones (where case are high),” he said.

Amdavad Municipal Corporation also has dedicated helplines for doorstep delivery of groceries in a bid to eliminate the need of citizens having to step out of their homes.

Authorities are also using drones for aerial surveillance. Those violating section 144 orders and gathering on rooftops are identified and cases are registered against them.

However, this is not it. Authorities in other parts of the country are also using technology to keep track of coronavirus patients and ensuring that the contagion is contained. Delhi Police, for example, has been tracking mobile phones of as many as 25,000 individuals who are on home quarantine. Recently, the Delhi Police registered FIRs against those who were found violating home quarantine. Of 198 FIRs registered, at least 176 were based on mobile phone tracking and surprise visits.

In fact, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has upped its ante and is increasing surveillance.

Over a thousand teams are set up for increased surveillance.

Another volunteer who has been helping the authorities in the fight against coronavirus said that due to increased surveillance, vegetable markets which were identified in zones where there were more positive cases were moved out. “People avoid going to several areas because of the map,” he said.

Similar steps have been taken in other parts of the world like South Korea which has as per the latest figures on Chinese coronavirus trackers has managed to fare pretty well on flattening the curve. These are unprecedented times and no one knows where we will go from here after coronavirus is behind us. At such time, general public health and safety for individual privacy seems to be a tradeoff authorities are choosing.

Coronavirus: Members associated with Shura faction of Tablighi Jamaat found in Ahmedabad, to undergo medical check-up

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus: Members associated with Shura faction of Tablighi Jamaat found in Ahmedabad, to undergo medical check-up

Ahmedabad authorities have raised concerns after members associated with the Shura faction of Tablighi Jamaat who had attended the Indore markaz recently were found in the city. According to DGP Shivanand Jha, some Tablighi Jamaat members of Shura faction had visited the Indore markaz. While they did not visit the Nizamuddin markaz which has emerged as the hotspot for coronavirus, there is still a chance of them having contacted the Chinese virus locally there.

Read: Steep rise in dead bodies brought to Muslim graveyards in Indore gives rise to coronavirus scare

As of now, 127 Tablighi Jamaatis from Nizamuddin have been traced in Ahmedabad. Those who had attended the Shura Tablighi Jamaat are currently undergoing medical tests. The Shura faction of the Tablighi Jamaat broke away from Maulana Saad’s Jamaat in 2016 because of his ‘autocratic ways’. Its centre is in Nerul in Mumbai and also at Faiz Ilahi mosque at Turkman Gate. It has followers in Gujarat, Delhi, Karnataka and parts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh.

Recently, New Delhi’s Nizamuddin Markaz has emerged at the hotspot for coronavirus in India after hundreds of Tablighi Jamaat members tested positive for coronavirus. After the markaz was evacuated, there were reports of many of the attendees misbehaving with the medical and healthcare staff, policemen and were also found defecating in corridors.

Odisha becomes the first state to extend Coronavirus Lockdown till April 30, schools to remain closed till June 17

OpIndia Staff
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Odisha becomes the first state to extend Coronavirus Lockdown till April 30, schools to remain closed till June 17

Keeping in view the coronavirus scare, Odisha government has decided to extend the lockdown until April 30, becoming the first state to extend the lockdown which is scheduled to end on 14th April. Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has requested the central government not to start train and air services till April 30. He has also said that all educational institutions will remain shut till June 17.

Odisha TV has quoted CM Naveen Patnaik as saying: “During the ongoing lockdown period amid COVID-19 crisis, your discipline and sacrifice have provided us the strength to fight coronavirus. We have decided to extend the lockdown period in Odisha till April 30, said CM Naveen Patnaik”.

Whether to extend the 21-day national lockdown after it ends on 14th will be decided after a meeting of Prime Minister Modi with all the Chief Ministers through video conferencing on 11th April. Several states have requested to extend the lockdown, while some others have favoured a limited lockdown after 14th April. The PM is expected to announce a decision after the meeting and before the current lockdown ends.

On April 4, after witnessing the largest single-day increase in the state, the Jajpur administration in Odisha had announced a total shutdown, akin to curfew, in Odisha’s Jajpur and all block headquarters of the district for 48 hours from 8 PM tonight to 8 PM of April 6 as a precautionary measure to prevent community transmission of the COVID-19 after a Muslim cleric who had visited the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin tested positive on Friday.

Since two other cases in Odisha reported on April 4, were also attendees of Tablighi Jamaat, hailing from Cuttack and Bhadrak respectively, the Odisha government has also announced a curfew-like shutdown in Cuttack, Bhubaneswar and Bhadrak on Friday to prevent community transmission of Coronavirus.

It was then said that the 48-hour curfew-like shutdown order under the Disaster Management Act was issued to prevent community transmission of the highly infectious coronavirus disease.

The state government of Odisha led by CM Naveen Patnaik has been proactive in its approach to tackle the crisis and was one of the first states to announce a complete lockdown.

As on April 9, 2020, Odisha has reported a total of 42 coronavirus positive cases with one person succumbing to the infection. Two people have been cured so far.

FIR against Vlogger Maridhas in Melapalayam, den of Islamists, for analysing role of Tablighi Jamaat in spread of Coronavirus

OpIndia Staff
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FIR against Vlogger Maridhas in Melapalayam, den of Islamists, for analysing role of Tablighi Jamaat in spread of Coronavirus

Maridhas, a Tamil Vlogger, is under pressure again. Maridhas has been a persistent thorn for the dominant Dravidian party and now, there is an FIR against him for examining the role of Tablighi Jamaat in the spread of Coronavirus.

His YouTube channel has started gaining popularity in the last few years. His videos reflect his background as a college Professor of Computer Science. They are factual, share data and logical argumentation and are noted for their in-depth research. His target audience is the younger generation and he frequently insists that his aim is to help younger people build a society where change is brought in and decisions are made on the basis of rational and factual discussion rather than on emotion. He almost always ends his short videos with a list of references to news reports, research articles, books and factual quotes. He also insists that his social media followers and viewers go back and do some research for themselves before deciding to accept what he says.

This has brought him the unwanted attention of the Dravidian-Tamil Nationalist ecosystem of Tamil Nadu, which is driven by emotion and sentiment-based narratives. He has faced harassment in the past by the DMK over his presentation of facts related to CAA as well as his discussion on the DMK’s stance on the Kashmir issue.

He is under fire again, this time for having fallen foul of the Islamist fellow-travellers of the Dravidian movement. In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown and emergency response in India, it has been found that the Tablighi Jamaat event held at Nizamuddin in Delhi has been responsible for a great number of people being infected with Coronavirus. This has affected Tamil Nadu as a State particularly badly. As of the time this report is being written, there are 690 cases of Coronavirus infection in Tamil Nadu of which 637 are either individuals that have attended the event or those who have been in contact with them.

In order to dispel the worries and hysteria and to improve the awareness of people towards the possibility of a terrorist threat that could materialize, Maridhas released this video on April 2nd.

He warns of the different types of individuals who end up providing covering fire for terrorism, intentionally or unintentionally, by conflating terrorism with Islam or invoking Islamophobia to thwart genuine enquiry into the nature of terrorism.

He has openly chronicled the cases of Mujeeb Mohammed, the software engineerwho exhorted people to go out and sneeze and spit in public and the multiple individuals who exhorted people to spit on rupee notes or the cleric who claimed the Wuhan virus epidemic is a punishment for implementing the NRC. He then shares the data related to impact of the Tableeghi Jamat gathering on India’s Covid-19 epidemic situation.

One can only wonder how many of the attendees at the Tableeghi Jamat gathering were of the same mind set as the software engineer? How many of them would actually put such thoughts into action?

The gathering was conducted between March 13-15, 2020, while the Government had issued an advisory even before this gathering for individuals who had travelled from abroad to self-isolate. People who had entered India on a tourist’s visa had attended a meeting related to evangelization of a particular religion, which is against the visa regulations of India, to begin with, and had spread out all over the country in various mosques after the event.

Of particular concern is the announcement by Maulana Saad that the Coronavirus pandemic was a conspiracy and urging Muslims to defy any isolation or lockdown announcements by the Government. 

Subsequently, individuals who had attended the event had returned to Tamil Nadu and were resisting attempts by health authorities to test them for infection. Maridhas questions this highly irresponsible behaviour by Tablighi Jamaat and its role in spreading Coronavirus in his video.

Seeing this as a provocation, there are reports that an FIR has been filed against Maridhass in Melapalayam, Tirunelveli District under sections 292-A (printing of grossly indecent or scurrilous matter or matter intended to blackmail, 295-A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs), and 505(2) (Statements creating or promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes and provisions under Section 67 B of Information Technology Act.

Initial probing indicates that the local police may have had no option but to take the FIR. Melapalayam village has had a long history of communal discord, Hindu Munnani activists have been murdered here in 1997, 1998 and 2002. The notorious Kichan Buhari, a leading member of the Al-Umma organization, indicted in the 1998 assassination attempt on L K Advani, hails from Melapalayam. Individuals from the same Melapalayam were identified as suspects in the 2013 Bangalore bombing incident. Even as recently as 2015, members of Islamist organizations like Tamil Nadu Towheed Jamaat (TNTJ) were involved in rioting and communal skirmishes. In January 2020, Tamil stage speaker ‘Nellai’ Kannan had issued a call to kill Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah at a meeting organized in Melapalayam. 

Given this history of Melapalayam village and also the hostility that Maridhas faces from Islamists, it is certainly a threat to life if Maridhas is forced to go to an area where he might face the very people who he seems to have antagonised. It remains to be seen if the Tamil Nadu Government will act to prevent any mishaps or watch mutely in the face of Islamist pressure tactics.

Despite rising coronavirus cases and economic devastation, Pakistan boycotts key SAARC trade meet because India led it

OpIndia Staff
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Despite rising coronavirus cases and economic devastation, Pakistan boycotts key SAARC trade meet because India led it

The parody country of Pakistan on Wednesday boycotted a video conference of trade officials from the SAARC countries, claiming that such meetings will only be effective if spearheaded by the group’s secretariat instead of India.

Reportedly, the conference was convened to discuss the impact of coronavirus in the region and how the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) forum could come up with a common strategy.

In the virtual conference, the trade officials broadly agreed to identify new ways to “sustain and expand” the intra-regional trade to offset the huge economic cost of the coronavirus pandemic. The terrorist country Pakistan chickened out from the meeting after it was revealed that India was spearheading the meeting.

The deliberations took place as a follow up to an India-initiated video conference of SAARC leaders on March 15. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested in the conference that the member nations of the bloc should come together to jointly fight the pandemic.

Shortly after the conference, Pakistan’s Foreign Office released a statement saying, “Activities such as today’s Trade Officials’ Video-Conference could only be effective if spearheaded by the SAARC Secretariat. Since the SAARC Secretariat was not part of today’s Video-Conference, Pakistan chose not to participate.”

In order for the SAARC process to move forward, the SAARC Secretariat must be enabled to play its due role in any event or activity being organised under its auspices, the statement said.

The Pakistan Foreign office further claimed that the role of the secretariat assumes further salience in emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and it’s wider social and economic fallout.

The statement said as, in the case of other regional and international organisations, the SAARC secretariat also provides the requisite convening platform, institutional framework and support structure for essential coordination and follow-up.

The Foreign Office said that Pakistan, as a founding member believed that SAARC provides an important platform for regional cooperation. It added that at a time when the region was facing unprecedented challenges, all the available institutional frameworks must be optimally utilised.

Earlier, India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) in a statement said, “In order for the countries to deal with the situation, it was stressed that new ways and means be jointly identified to sustain and expand the intra-regional trade until the normal trade channels are fully restored.”

It said the imperative need to maintain essential trade within the SAARC region was viewed as an important thrust area for favourable consideration.

The MEA said the impact of COVID-19 on regional trade and possible measures to mitigate it was seen as a new focus area for discussion in the larger framework of trade facilitation in the SAARC region.

Read: Pak representative who raked up Kashmir issue at SAARC COVID-19 meet is accused of smuggling 20 million face masks

Meanwhile, Pakistan has been facing a severe health crisis following the transmission of the Chinese epidemic coronavirus. The death toll continues to rise as 58 patients have died with more than 4,000 people affected by the pandemic.

Facing a severe economic crisis, Pakistan has been using the coronavirus pandemic as an excuse to beg other nations to get its debts written off.

The government has extended partial lockdown till April 14 and constantly asking people to stay indoors and follow social distancing.

20 hotspots identified and sealed off in Delhi, first positive coronavirus case reported in Lutyen’s area, masks mandatory

OpIndia Staff
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20 hotspots identified and sealed off in Delhi, first positive coronavirus case reported in Lutyen’s area, masks mandatory

The Delhi government has decided to seal off twenty coronavirus hotspots in the national capital from Thursday in an effort to limit the spread of the Chinese pandemic coronavirus.

Reportedly, in a significant decision, the Delhi government has also made face masks compulsory for people stepping out of their homes in the national capital, where 576 cases of coronavirus have been reported so far. 

“Wearing of facial masks can reduce the spread of coronavirus substantially. Therefore, it has been decided that facial masks will be compulsory for anyone stepping out of their house. Cloth masks will be eligible too,” Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Wednesday evening.

The 20 hotspots to be sealed include Markaz Masjid and Nizamuddin Basti, Dwarka’s Shahjahanabad society, parts of Mayur Vihar, Patparganj, Malviya Nagar, Sangam Vihar, Seemapuri, Vasundhara Enclave and Dilshad Garden. 

The popular Bengali Market near Mandi House was also sealed on Wednesday after three local residents tested positive for coronavirus. The positive case in Bengali Market makes the first case in the Lutyens’ area of the national capital.

The person who has tested positive for the virus is a resident of an area that is close to a place of worship in the Bengali market. The NDMC has also ordered to immediately sanitise Bengali Market area under the containment plan to prevent the spread of the fast-spreading virus. Delhi Police had also decided to immediately cordon off the area to prevent movement of people.

Reportedly, two persons working in Bengali Market were found to having symptoms, who were living in unhygienic conditions and a further field test revealed that 35 people were living in a pastry shop without maintaining social distancing.

Meanwhile, the Union Health Ministry, on Wednesday, confirmed that the total coronavirus cases in India have now risen to 5274 – out of which, 4714 cases are currently active. In Delhi alone, 576 cases of coronavirus have been reported so far. The figure includes nine people who died and 21 who recovered.

Corona Yoddha: From red light areas to Burma border, 2.10 lakh Sewa Bharati volunteers lend a helping hand to people amid the coronavirus crisis

OpIndia Staff
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Corona Yoddha: From red light areas to Burma border, 2.10 lakh Sewa Bharati volunteers lend a helping hand to people amid the coronavirus crisis

Our country is currently battling an epidemic, the likes of which we have never seen in this century. The central and state governments have been working on war footing to contain the spread of the deadly Chinese virus. Likewise, RSS has always been at the forefront in extending crucial help whenever there was a disaster anywhere in the nation.

Similar to the RSS, its affiliated organisation, Sewa Bharati, has also been working relentlessly, extending a helping hand to the marginalised at the time of this crisis.

The organisation Sewa Bharati is headquartered in Delhi, from where the relief work is being carried out across the country. From distributing food packets to manufacturing masks at war footing and reaching out and distributing at places facing a scarcity to distributing bed sheets and blankets to providing basic medicines, Sewa Bharati cadres have been in the forefront in extending crucial help to the needy at the time of this pandemic. Moreover, almost 2.10 lakh cadres have been reaching out to the remotest corners of the country in order to extend their assistance.

Founded in 1989, this RSS offshoot works in the area of health care and education under the aegis of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It has traditionally worked among the impoverished sections of society, slums, resettlement colonies etc. This organisation came to being after the then RSS supremo Balasaheb Deoras addressed a Delhi gathering in 1979 to start a wing that will exclusively work among the poor and vulnerable.

According to the all India general secretary of ‘Sewa Bharti’, Shravan Kumar, the organization does not see which state are they working in or what is the caste-religion or identity of the person who needs help. He told that the organization is specially engaged in reaching places where even government assistance have not reached.

There are 2.1 lakh volunteers engaged in work across the country under the banner of ‘Sewa Bharati’. The organization has contact with a total of 1200 institutions in India and is working closely with all of them. Together with these 1200 institutions, it is being ensured that no area across the country is missed at the time of this pandemic.

Shravan said that he has direct access to almost 26 lakh people, who are being provided with food by the organisation.

The organisation has provided different helpline numbers for every state. If a person is in distress or gets stuck in any sort of problem, then he/she can call these numbers and ask for help. People stranded in railway stations and bus stops are being rescued by the Sewa Bharati workers.

The organisation has the highest number of volunteers in Kerala. There are about 1 lakh volunteers of ‘Sewa Bharati’ who are engaged in public services in the state alone. It has stepped up to provide help to the health workers of Kerala state, reeling under the threat of the spread of the deadly Chinese virus. Sewa Bharati had on March 23 sanitized a building which is to be used as isolation ward at Kodugallur in Thrissur district. The workers had distributed masks to the people in Kerala’s Ranni district which had become one of the epicentres of the pandemic in the state.

It is imperative to note here that despite the fact that Kerala’s Left government has been in perpetual war with RSS, the organisation has been working selflessly in the state to serve the people.

In Delhi, the organisation has been distributing over 10000 food packets a day. According to R Ramanathan, State president of Sewa Bharati, more than 100 volunteers are involved in preparing the food and distributing the packets to those in need including migrant workers. “The RSS workers have collected details of people who are in need of food in the city,” he said. Volunteers distribute the packets from 8.30 am to 2.30 pm.

Almost 5,000 cadres have been feeding 75,000 Delhiites on a daily basis. So far the food they are providing is made out of 45 kitchens spread across Delhi. Once the food packets are ready, their zonal teams distribute among the needy in their area.

Sewa Bharati has also been distributing milk and beverages to patients and hospital staff at Coimbatore Medical College Hospital in the morning, according to Mr Ramanathan.

45 kitchens of Sewa Bharati are functioning in Delhi alone. The advice of doctors and government is also being taken care of while rendering these services. Social distancing is being followed. All the volunteers have been instructed to wear masks and gloves along with frequent usage of hand sanitizer while distributing as well as preparing the food at the kitchen.

Their cadres are also collaborating with temple trusts like the Jhandewalan Temple in the national capital where hundreds and thousands of meals are served each day.

Interestingly, mainstream media channel AajTak, had falsely called food preparation by Jhandewalan Temple Trust and Sewa Bharati volunteers for needy as Kejriwal’s “Community Kitchen”.

AajTak showed video footage and pictures of food preparation, falsely attributing to it to Arvind Kejriwal, claiming that the AAP government had commissioned a “Community Kitchen” in Delhi for providing food daily to about 10,000 hungry and needy people in Delhi. The report extolled Arvind Kejriwal for taking “exceptional measures” to provide food and shelters to the migrant workers in Delhi.

However, the video footage and images shared by AajTak were not from Arvind Kejriwal’s “Community Kitchen”. The photos and video were of the food preparation done by Jhandewalan Temple Trust and members of Sewa Bharati which was to be served to the needy and hungry people amid the coronavirus lockdown in the National Capital.

Speaking to OpIndia, one of the full-time members of Sewa Bharati, Bhupendra claimed that the kitchen has been set up since March 22 where daily food for 30,000 people is being prepared.

Most importantly, it has been providing ration materials to 986 women living in the Redlight areas of ​​Delhi, for whom, in the current scenario, it is becoming extremely difficult to make ends meet as their savings are very low and they depend on daily earnings.

Sewa Bharati also emphasises on the remote border areas of the North-east, as it takes time for the government aides to reach these areas. Bedsheets and blankets are being distributed at railway stations in the North-East. Clean water is being delivered to the people. They are also being made aware of the government and medical guidelines. Many students of North-East who study in Sewa Bharati schools have been brought to their home safely at the time of this crisis by these volunteers.

Sewa Bharati volunteers are also serving on the Burma border. Through video conferencing, the officials and volunteers keep in touch with each other to make sure the work goes on smoothly. Special attention is being given to the economically weaker areas.

Apart from all this, Sewa Bharati is also producing domestic masks. Almost 1 lakh masks have been distributed in Jammu alone. The organisation is daily getting more than twelve hundred masks from its three units for distribution among the needy.

Masks are being prepared at various places. Kerala has the highest number of masks distributed by the organisation after Jammu. However, Shravan says that his organization has an equal focus on all states and is trying to reach out to as many people as possible.

On March 24, a video had gone viral which showed how RSS cadres were seen cleaning hospital beds and brooming floors in a bid to help the hospital authorities.

The organisation is focused on the poor and marginalised who lack awareness about the COVID-19 and ways to prevent it. As such, soaps, sanitizers and protective masks were distributed among the masses. Preventive measures were also discussed during the interaction between Swayamsevaks and the local people.

“Whenever there has been a natural calamity or a disaster, the RSS’ volunteers have always been on the forefront to help society deal with it. We are carrying forward this tradition though this time it appears to be the biggest-ever challenge we have faced as a society”, a functionary said on the condition of anonymity. 

Locals in Kashmir defy coronavirus lockdown to attend funeral of slain Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist, FIR registered

OpIndia Staff
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Locals in Kashmir defy coronavirus lockdown to attend funeral of slain Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorist, FIR registered

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday registered a case against the people who participated in the funeral of slain Jaish-e-Muhammad terrorist Sajad Nawab Dar in Sopore town of Baramulla district.

According to reports, hundreds of people attended the funeral of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terrorist Sajad Nawab Dar, who was killed in an encounter at Arampora, Sopore on Wednesday violating the rules calling for maintaining social distance in view of Chinese epidemic outbreak.

A case has been registered against people who gathered at the funeral. Sopore police have a registered an FIR under relevant sections against the persons who gathered at the funeral of JeM commander violating the protocols and government advisories regarding the social gathering. A case under Section 188 IPC has been registered and the investigation is set into motion.

Journalist Aditya Raj Kaul had shared the video of Sopore residents assembling in massive numbers to participate in the funeral despite a nationwide lockdown.

The police said that the legal heirs of the slain terrorist had given in writing that they will adhere to social distancing when the body was handed over to them after completing medico-legal formalities.

On Thursday, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) had neutralized the commander of the terror organization Jaish-e-Mohammad in an encounter in Sopore area of Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir. The security forces had launched a cordon-and-search operation in the Arampora area of Sopore in the north Kashmir district after receiving specific information about the presence of terrorists there.

On Wednesday, 33 people more people have been tested positive in Jammu and Kashmir taking the total number of positive coronavirus patients in the Union Territory to 158. 

Tablighis were comfortable to perform toilet functions in public view – book by Malaysian author reveals

OpIndia Staff
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Tablighis were comfortable to perform toilet functions in public view – book by Malaysian author reveals

Malaysian author Farish A. Noor in his book Islam on the Move reveals that the Tablighi Jamaatis who live in the markaz are so comfortable to perform their toilet functions like urinating and excreting in full view of others as the ‘shame about their bodies’ was eradicated. Excerpts shared by Delhi University Professor Abhinav Prakash on microblogging site Twitter revealed habits of the Tablighi Jamaatis while in the markaz.

Excerpt of the book Islam on the Move

Apparently, the design of Tablighi toilet at markaz provides an all-seeing view whatever is going on in the toilet area. This would enable the Tablighis to ‘monitor and correct’ the behaviour of their Tablighi brothers. Such urinating in full public view ensured that the Tablighis would urinate while squatting instead of standing up as sitting down is the ‘proper way’ to urinate as per Sunnah.

Open toilets also ensured ‘unwanted incidents’ like homosexual acts or masturbation do not take place inside the markaz. Homosexuality is condemned in Islam and masturbation is haraam in Islam. Hence, as per the author’s observations, since Tablighi Jamaatis are comfortable with excreting and urinating in public view, perhaps that is the reason they are running amok naked, as has been alleged.

Columnist and national security affairs analyst Divya Kumar Soti also shared on social media that the Sunnah, the social and legal custom in Islam, directs Muslims to spit to ward off satan (or the devil, who resides in toilets as stated above) when he tries to interfere in their religious practices.

Maulana Saad, the chief of Nizamuddin Markaz Tablighi Jamaat had told the attendees that coronavirus is a conspiracy. Hence, many of the attendees believe that the government is taking healthy Muslims and killing them. The government has prohibited large gatherings in religious places like temples and mosques and hence the ‘satan’ is prohibiting them from practicing their religious practice, i.e. offering namaaz in mosque. Hence, the ‘satan’ healthcare workers are at the receiving end of the wrath of Tablighi Jamaatis who are spitting on them.

The Nizamuddin Tablighi Jamaat, which was attended by thousands of Muslims from India and abroad last month, has emerged as a hotspot for coronavirus in India with maximum positive cases being traced to the markaz. After the attendees were taken to quarantine centre, reports had emerged that the attendees misbehaved with nurses, healthcare and sanitation workers, police and even excreted in the corridor.

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