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Residents of Nizamuddin Basti near Tablighi Jamaat Markaz refuse to share health details with officials, claims it threatens their citizenship

OpIndia Staff
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Residents of Nizamuddin Basti near Tablighi Jamaat Markaz refuse to share health details with officials, claims it threatens their citizenship

The residents of the Nizamuddin Basti, the locality which has become the epicentre of the coronavirus spread in the country, are reportedly not cooperating with the health officials as they are refusing to share health details amidst the scare of the health pandemic in the country.

According to an Economic Times report, the government officials had visited residents of Nizamuddin Basti, situated close to the Tablighi Jamaat’s headquarters at Banglewali Masjid, on Friday in the wake of transmission of the coronavirus by attendees of Tablighi Jamaat.

The officials had asked the residents to fill up forms with details about their health conditions and travel histories. This is part of the exercise under the Disease Surveillance Programme, where the Centre and the health department officials visited every house in Nizamuddin Basti and asked people to fill up a form with ten questions and list the head of the family, details of the other members, whether any of them had shown symptoms of fever, cough or respiratory problems, contact and address details of the people they regularly meet, travel data of any place outside Delhi, data of doctors they consulted and history of medical illness among others.

This exercise has now sparked unrest in parts of the area, with some people refusing to share details with the officials saying the data collection exercise was a “threat to their citizenship”.

According to the health officials, the exercise is a regular practice in times of an outbreak. The officials were assisted by experts in healthcare from the Aga Khan Foundation who asked the residents to “not hide any of their health issues, and get in touch with their Sehat Aapas”. A senior government official speaking to ET said that this was an attempt to “identify if there was any community transmission”. He added that given its proximity to the Markaz, the locality is a potential hotspot. For necessary steps to be taken, the data is important, he added.

Shockingly, the residents of the basti have now refused to fill out the form. The controversial Islamic body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, which is influential in the area, questioned the officials on the purpose of their visit.

“The doctors had come that day, and people with symptoms had self-identified themselves. They have all been quarantined. There is no need for written forms, mobile and address details… they can always speak to us and get details,” said a member of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind member also questioned the need of health officials visit when the entire basti was cordoned off, and at a time people are staying at home. “What is the need for outsiders to come and carry out such an extensive exercise with so many data points?” he asked.

The member said the basti’s residents were being visited by officials almost daily, and that every precaution was being followed. “Even the chemist shops have been told to have only three customers at any given time. We are only against unauthorised data collection,” he said.

The non-co-operation by Muslim residents has continued ever since the reports that Tablighi Jamaat is the primary sources of transmission of coronavirus in the country emerged. A series of attacks have been unleashed against health workers, policemen who have been fighting at the forefront to collect information regarding the people who may have carried the Chinese virus after visiting the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi.

Tablighi Jamaat members, who are emerging as the sole reason for the sudden spike in the number of coronavirus cases in India, are turning out to be quite a headache for the authorities. The anti-social behaviour of attendees of Tablighi Jamaat has left the authorities and medical teams completely distraught.

From attacking medical teams who were searching for Tablighi members for who had attended the religious congregation to check them for possible infection, to spiting on doctors at an Isolation centre, to roaming naked in their ward and making lewd gestures for female staff, these attendees have been displaying extreme crassness.

The Tablighi Jamaat is has become the epicentre of the transmission of the Chinese coronavirus across the country. Muslim clerics of Tablighi Jamaat organised a congregation in violation of the government’s lockdown orders, providing a conducive environment for the novel coronavirus to proliferate. In India, the Jamaat has come under severe criticism for defying the lockdown and organising a congregation.

The Jamaat members taking buses and trains to their respective localities all over India has resulted in a massive nation-wide spread within a span of few days. As per government reports, over 9000 Tablighi Jamaat attendees and their primary contacts have so far been quarantined. At least 700 positive cases from Tablighi event has been reported in the last two days and few of them have died.

Coronavirus fight: Advanced Booking for domestic and international travel closed until April 30 by Air India

OpIndia Staff
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Coronavirus fight: Advanced Booking for domestic and international travel closed until April 30 by Air India

Even though the nationwide lockdown imposed in the wake of the Wuhan Coronavirus outbreak is until April 14, an Air India official informed that advanced flight booking for both domestic and international air travel via the national carrier has been suspended until April 30. It is crucial to remember that the Cabinet Secretary had earlier informed that the Government had no plans for extending the nationwide lockdown.

On Thursday, Union Aviation Minister Hardeep Puri said, “The ministry is proceeding on the understanding that the lockdown is in place till April 15. There is no directive from the ministry about the contingency planning of airlines. But, as an eternal optimist, I am hoping that on April 15, flights can at least start, if not all, then in a calibrated manner. But that is a decision that we still need to take,” Puri had said Thursday.

A senior government official said that Air India would wait for the government’s decision until April 14 and bookings could begin on the same day if the lockdown was not extended.

Air India has been running operations to evacuate Indian citizens stuck in foreign countries struck gravely by the Wuhan Coronavirus pandemic. However, it was earlier reported that members of the flight crew are facing ostracization in their neighbourhood, Air India has said on social media. The airline has requested people to ensure that “our crew are treated with the courtesy, respect, and freedom that every citizen of this country deserves especially in light of the fact of their having undertaken flight duties to affected countries to bring back Indian citizens.”

Air India said in its press release, “It is alarming to note that in many localities, vigilante Resident Welfare Associations and neighbours have started ostracizing the crew, obstructing them from performing their duty or even calling in the police, simply because the crew travelled abroad in the course of their duty. These vigilantes have conveniently forgotten that many a spouse, parent, sibling, child and near and dear one have been brought home safe and secure from affected countries, thanks to the heroic efforts of these Air India crew.”

This WSJ columnist thinks that deeply religious Muslims can’t be molesters or rapists

OpIndia Staff
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This WSJ columnist thinks that deeply religious Muslims can’t be molesters or rapists

India has been pushed into the throws of chaos after a congregation of Tablighi Jamaat. As per conservative estimates, the congregation organised by Tablighi Jamaat was attended by 1500 people, both from various parts of the country as well as from abroad. 10 people who attended the congregation had died of COVID-19. Despite overt symptoms of coronavirus, the rabid Islamists of Tablighi Jamaat have shown a recalcitrant attitude to cooperate with the authorities and a malevolent desire to infect those who are helping them fight the contagion.

It is estimated that over 9000 people who have come in contact with the Tablighi Jamaat members are being traced and placed into quarantine. While India tried to tame the beast unleashed by Tablighi, one cluster that was quarantined in Ghaziabad indulged in shameful, lewd behaviour towards the women staff. They roamed around without pants, naked, made lewd gestures and comments and demanded that they are given cigarettes.

As soon as the news emerged, the usual apologists for Islamists came out of the woodwork trying to defend the Jamaatis. One of them doing everything he possibly can to prove that the members of the Tablighi Jamaat were innocent, was Wall Street Journal (WSJ) columnist Sadanand Dhume.

Responding to The Wire journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani, who was also shielding Tablighi Jamaat by casting aspersions on the nurses who were subjected to humiliation by the Jamaatis, the WSJ columnist Sadanand Dhume said that he was “no fan” of the beliefs of Tablighi Jamaat but anyone who had spent time with them knew that their conservativism extends to “extreme propriety around women”.

Sadhananad Dhume did not just stop there. He then said, “Stories about their lewdness ring false. And attempts to tar Muslims, in general, are beyond despicable”.

Essentially, Dhume was saying that firstly, deeply religious Muslim men cannot be molesters or rapists and secondly, that the nurses who had complained about the Tablighi Jamaat members misbehaving with them were lying because they wished to tarnish the image of Muslims.

Read: Ummah above gender: The Wire journalist refuses to believe nurses’ complaint about Tablighi Jamaatis harassing them

The WSJ columnist, Sadanand Dhume, essentially was more than willing to believe the outward appearance of virtue by the members of the Tablighi Jamaat, however, in order to shield them, he disbelieved and discarded a written complaint by the nurses where they had elucidated how the members of the Jamaat harassed them by making lewd comments and gestures while roaming around without pants.

His misplaced defence of the barbarians did not go down well with several people who called him out for being an apologist not just for radical Islam but also crimes against women.

Pratyasha Rath, a Twitter user, said that Dhume was indulging in shameful victim-blaming. Making a pertinent point, Rath said that Dhume is victim-blaming based on his supposed experience with a handful of individuals and owing to that experience, he is negating what the victim is saying about her ordeal.

Read: Sadanand Dhume: Typical brown sepoy ‘liberal’ who peddles nonsense unfettered by reality hitting him in the face

Another Twitter user, Risha, said, “This mindset is the sole reason why we see many cases of people being raped by these godmen. Yes, they all act holier than thou about their sexuality in the public space, then blackmail their victims saying “who will believe you””.

Interestingly, this observation by Risha is extremely pertinent since Dhume had spoken about this very mindset during the MeToo movement. Though not in relation to godmen, Dhume had spoken about how powerful men get away with mistreating women because the women were scared, the men had the power and eventually, the women did not speak up because they feared their allegations against the powerful men would not be believed. While speaking in these terms during the MeToo movement, Dhume is now perpetuating the same mindset, this time, to shield radical Islamists of the Tablighi Jamaat.

Not just once, Dhume continued to peddle the same narrative even when confronted with how ridiculous his assertions were.

Interestingly, what Dhume is essentially saying that because he met a few people from the Tablighi Jamaat who he thought were “pious”, nobody from the Tablighi Jamaat could molest women and thus, the women must be lying.

In fact, a case from 2011 itself proves how shallow Dhume’s knowledge truly is. In 2011, an Imam was charged under 13 counts for sexual assault in Toronto. Mohammad Masroor, 48, worked as a travelling imam and visited numerous countries teaching children and young people Koranic studies. In their investigation, police have found Mr. Masroor to be in possession of three passports than bear names other than his own. The 13 charges against Mr. Masroor stem from alleged abuses committed against five former students. Because the imam travelled so extensively, Det. Const. Karen Armstrong said she worried there are more victims are out there, if not in Canada. The Imam was reportedly a member of the Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic movement aimed at proselytizing at the grassroots level. The movement is largely based in Bangladesh now.

There have in fact been so many cases of Imams and Maulvis raping and sexually assaulting minors that a thesis can, and perhaps should be written on why Islamic godmen indulge in crimes against women and minor boys rather rampantly. However, in order to shield the members of Tablighi Jamaat, closing one’s eyes to the truth seem to be imperative.

Read: Female healthcare and police staff not to attend to Tablighi Jamaat members after they roamed naked and made lewd gestures at nurses: Yogi govt declares

According to The Wire editor Arfa Khanum Sherwani and the WSJ columnist Sadanand Dhume, everyone is lying and even the victim nurses are engaging in propaganda but Tablighi Jamaat alone is the epitome of virtue. The people being supported and whose integrity they are vouching for are the same ones who have been spitting on doctors and others working with them in their efforts to get them infected with the Wuhan Coronavirus, and also attacking policemen and healthcare workers who are looking for people who had attended the Jamaat to screen them.

600 foreigners linked to Tablighi Jamaat traced in the ​last three days, officials suspect at least 200 more in hiding: Report

OpIndia Staff
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600 foreigners linked to Tablighi Jamaat traced in the ​last three days, officials suspect at least 200 more in hiding: Report

The health workers, Delhi police and the officials have put in combined efforts in the last three days to trace over 600 foreigners linked to the Tablighi Jamaat in the national capital who are suspected to have carried coronavirus, reports Hindustan Times.

“By the time we finish, we expect to find 200 more at least,” a senior Delhi government official told Hindustan Times. The police were initially expecting to find 187 foreigners and two dozen Indian nationals from the Tablighi Jamaat who had attended the congregation at Delhi’s Nizamuddin area, but turns out, their estimates were terribly off the mark.

According to the senior officials in the Delhi government, about 100 foreigners have been found in mosques of the north-east district, 200 in the south-east district, 170 in the south district and 7 in the west district of Delhi. “We are still in the process of getting final reports from the field,” the official said.

Ever since the reports of Tablighi Jamaat being the epicentre of the coronavirus in India came out in the public, the officials have been tracing Tablighi Jamaat attendees across the country.

The security establishment had to put all the effort to evacuate the 2,300 people from the Tablighi Jamaat headquarters in central Delhi’s, which led to police to conclude that there were more foreigners staying in different mosques in the national capital.

On 31 March, the Delhi Police had also sent an urgent message to the Delhi Government seeking help to locate the remaining Jamaat workers out of the city’s mosques. The police communication listed 16 mosques.

According to security agencies, there were at least 2,100 foreigners who had attended Markaz after landing in the country between March 1 and 18. Of them, 216 were still at the Jamaat headquarters when the crackdown took place and 824 had already left for proselytising activities across the country.

Soon, the authorities started a ‘manhunt’ to trace all the attendees, especially the foreigners who had participated so that they could be quarantined and their contact tracing could be established.

Many of the foreign nationals who had attended the event were found ‘hiding’ in mosques at various parts of the country. Several raids on mosques and religious places have taken place in the last three days to trace these foreign nationals. They have been now put under quarantine to test whether they are carrying the Chinese virus.

Following the violation of visa conditions by these foreigners, the Union Home Ministry had blacklisted and cancelled the tourist visas of 960 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members for not only aiding the spread of the contagious disease but also engaging in missionary activities while in India.

The blacklisting order will prohibit them from entering India for at least two years. It is reported that these 960 foreign Tablighi Jamaat members could be deported as and when they complete the quarantine or the hospitalisation period and international flights resume.

The massive jump of cases in India is solely due to the Tablighi Jamaat members who had gathered in the Nizamuddin mosque despite government orders against mass-gatherings.

The Jamaat members taking buses and trains to their respective localities all over India has resulted in a massive nation-wide spread within a span of few days. As per government reports, over 9000 Tablighi Jamaat attendees and their primary contacts have so far been quarantined.

As of Friday, 647 confirmed cases of Wuhan Coronavirus in 14 States, reported in the last two days, are linked to the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation that was organised by Tablighi Jamaat.

In Delhi alone, out of the counted 386 confirmed coronavirus cases in the city, 259 cases are connected to Jamaat. Three of Delhi’s six deaths are also linked to the Markaz, the biggest hot spot of the COVID-19 infections.

There are reports from different parts of the country indicating that a large number of people who had attended the Nizamuddin Markaz congregation had tested positive.

The live cases of COVID-19 linked to Tablighi Jammat were reported in Andaman and Nicobar, Delhi, Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

IIT Roorkee and AIIMS Rishikesh develop closed-loop portable ventilator named as ‘Praan-Vayu’ for COVID-19 patients

OpIndia Staff
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IIT Roorkee and AIIMS Rishikesh develop closed-loop portable ventilator named as ‘Praan-Vayu’ for COVID-19 patients

The Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee has introduced a low-cost portable ventilator that might prove useful for the survival of COVID-19 patients. The team of researchers at IIT developed this ventilator with a closed loop that does not require compressed air and is useful when wards are converted into ICUs.

The ventilator has been named ‘Praan Vayu’, that is equipped with state of the art features developed in collaboration with AIIMS Rishikesh.

The Ventilator is based on the controlled operation of the prime mover that delivers an adequate amount of air to the patient. The completely automated process controls the pressure and flow rates in the inhalation and exhalation lines. Besides, the ventilator has feedback that can control tidal volume and breathe per minute.

The ventilator will be used for clearing congestions in the respiratory tract and is applicable for all age group patients including senior citizens. This has been tested successfully for normal and patient-specific breathing conditions.

Akshay Dwivedi, coordinator, Tinkering Laboratory of IIT Roorkee, “Prana-Vayu has been designed especially for COVID-19 pandemic. It is low-cost, safe, reliable, and can be quickly manufactured. We have successfully achieved the ventilatory requirement on a test lung, and it can be used for both infants and even overweight adults.”

Read- Coronavirus Pandemic: Maruti Suzuki to manufacture ventilators, masks for patients, health workers

The manufacturing cost per ventilator is estimated to be Rs 25,000. Some of the features of the device are remote monitoring, touch screen control of all operating parameters, moister, and temperature control for inhaled air. The automated process controls the pressure and flow rates in the inhalation and exhalation lines. Besides, the ventilator has feedback that can control tidal volume and breathe per minute.

This device will be particularly helpful in circumstances when a ward or open space of ​​a hospital is converted into an ICU.  The ventilator can robotically restrict excessive stress with an alarm system. In the occasion of a failure, the circuit opens within the ambiance, stopping choking of the patient.

FIR after video of fruit vendor Sheru Miyan licking fruits goes viral, daughter says ‘he did so because of his habit of ‘counting currency notes’

OpIndia Staff
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FIR after video of fruit vendor Sheru Miyan licking fruits goes viral, daughter says ‘he did so because of his habit of ‘counting currency notes’

The Raisen police have registered an FIR against a Muslim fruit vendor after a video of him, licking the fruits which he displays in a cart for sale went viral on social media. The police have booked the fruit vendor under IPC 269 (Negligent act likely to spread infection of disease danger­ous to life) and 270 (Malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) on April 3.

The police registered the FIR on the basis of a complaint lodged by a youth named Bodhraj Tipta. According to the FIR Bodhraj was sitting in a local pan shop at around 5 pm on 16th February along with one of his friend named Bavishya Kumar, when he saw the accused, Sheru Miyan (as he was referred to) deliberately contaminating the fruits with his saliva before he sold it to his customers. Bodhraj claims that he shot a video of Sheru indulging in this disgraceful act on his mobile phone and lodged a complaint with the police.

Copy of the FIR registered against the fruit vendor

In the video, the fruit vendor in Raisen, Madhya Pradesh, is seen arranging a variety of fruits on his cart, which he parks in the middle of a market place. While arranging the fruits on the cart, the vendor is seen picking up the fruit one at a time. And each time he picks up a fruit to arrange in the cart, he first purposely licks his hand and then uses the same hand, smeared with his saliva, to pick up the fruits and re-arrange on his cart. He purposely contaminates the fruits which he would eventually be selling to his customers.

According to the daughter of the man, her father’s mental health is not sound and he did it unintentionally. She claimed that her father was licking his fingers and the fruits due to his habit of counting notes. She also suggested conspiracy behind releasing the two months old video now. She accused that the video has been released now due to the current situation.

At the time when India is battling to contain the scourge of the Coronavirus, which spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, many people are intentionally trying to spread the infection by indulging in such shameful acts.

Yesterday, the Nasik rural police have taken to Twitter to inform that a Muslim man, whose video of licking and wiping nose with a bunch of currency notes and calling Coronavirus a punishment by Allah was doing rounds on social media, has now been identified and is in police custody.

The video showed a Muslim man taking a bunch of currency notes and licking them with his tongue and wiping his nose with them. He says that the coronavirus has no treatment because it is sent by ‘Allah’, implying that he is going to pass those currency notes around, to spread the disease.

Moreover, some Islamists had taken to TikTok to  ‘welcome’ the Chinese coronavirus to India. In videos posted by Islamists on the page, one can see them saying, “Welcome to India, coronavirus. To the ones who were asking for our NRC, my God (Allah)’s NRC is now being implemented. Now only He will decide who will stay and who will go.”

Many even took to the Chinese video-sharing app to extend their support to Maulana Saad of Tablighi Jamaat.

Lies are also spread about Tablighi Jamaat. Some videos are going viral which claim that none of the Jamaati at Markaz in Nizamuddin were tested positive for coronavirus.

Some Islamists on TikTok even promised to continue their support for Nizamuddin Markaz, which has emerged as Coronavirus hotspot, till the end of life.

Tablighi Jamaat members kept in Madhu resort in Agra throw tantrums, refuse to eat prescribed healthy food, demand spicy beef biryani

OpIndia Staff
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Tablighi Jamaat members kept in Madhu resort in Agra throw tantrums, refuse to eat prescribed healthy food, demand spicy beef biryani

Tablighi Jamaat members, who are emerging as the sole reason for the sudden spike in the number of coronavirus cases in India, are turning out to be quite a headache for the authorities, as well as the frontline healthcare workers, doctors and nurse who are working relentlessly to cater to the COVID-19 patients amidst the pandemic.

One such cluster of almost 89 Tablighi Jamaat attendees who have been quarantined in the Isolation Center at Madhu Resort in Sikandra space, Agra, after police caught them holed up in almost eight different Mosques in the town, have been throwing quite a lot of tantrums, making it difficult for the medical staff to attend to them.

According to media reports, these members of the Jammat have refused to consume the healthy non-spicy food prescribed to them by the doctors, instead, they have been making preposterous food demands like spicy beef biryani. The Jamaatis are claiming that they eat the same biryani every day and that it is an essential part of their diet. 

They are, reportedly, threatening the medical staff that if their demands are not met they would not consume medicines, nor would they allow the doctors or nurses to treat them. They have also warned that they would run away before the required 14-day isolation period.

One medical staff at Madhu resort, on conditions of anonymity, stated that these people have been completely disregarding the social distancing norm. They are offering group Namaz and roaming around freely in large groups. Visitors have been walking in freely into the resort, getting these Jamaatis outside food and drinks.

To add to all of this, these Jamaatis are accusing the administration of conspiring against their community. They feel that they are absolutely healthy and keeping them in confinement is a part of the government’s conspiracy to target their community.

However, this is not the only incident where the anti-social behaviour of attendees of Tablighi Jamaat has left the authorities and medical teams completely distraughted. From attacking medical teams who were searching for Tablighi members for who had attended the religious congregation to check them for possible infection, to spiting on doctors at an Isolation centre, to roaming naked in their ward and making lewd gestures for female staff, these attendees have been displaying extreme crassness.

Yesterday, we reported how some Jamaatis kept at the isolation ward of the District MMG Hospital in Ghaziabad were roaming in their wards naked. Not only this, but they were also making lewd gestures towards female employees of the hospital.

Prior to this it was reported how these occupants made unreasonable demands for food, misbehaved and abused staff members and started spitting all over and on persons working/attending them, including doctors. In a bid to spread the infection, some also urinated in the open, outside the isolation wards. They also started roaming around the hostel building.

A couple of days ago, the role of Tablighi Jamaat in the spreading of the Wuhan Coronavirus across numerous states of India had come to light. Muslim clerics of Tablighi Jamaat organised a congregation in violation of the government’s lockdown orders, providing a conducive environment for the novel coronavirus to proliferate. As per conservative estimates, the congregation organised by Tablighi Jamaat was attended by 1500 people, both from various parts of the country as well as from abroad. 10 people who attended the congregation had died of COVID-19. Despite overt symptoms of coronavirus, the rabid Islamists of Tablighi Jamaat have shown a recalcitrant attitude to cooperate with the authorities and a malevolent desire to infect those who are helping them to fight the contagion.

Karnataka: Muslim mob pelts stones at police officials after being stopped from offering mass namaz defying coronavirus lockdown

OpIndia Staff
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Karnataka: Muslim mob pelts stones at police officials after being stopped from offering mass namaz defying coronavirus lockdown

A large gathering of Muslims in Karnataka’s Hubbali district attacked police officials when they tried to stop them from offering namaaz en masse amidst the nationwide lockdown to blunt the spread of coronavirus. 4 police officials, including one woman constable, were injured by Muslim youths as they pelted stones at the police personnel for stopping them from congregating amidst the looming threat of COVID-19.

In a flagrant violation of lockdown restrictions, a raft of Muslims had convened at Mantur road at Aralikatti Oni in Hubbali to offer Friday prayers. When the district administration came to know of the mass gathering for namaaz prayers, 4 police personnel, including a woman constable, were dispatched to stop the mass congregation. Reportedly, a woman of the area and local youths pelted stones at the police van, injuring the 4 officials. The 4 police officials have sustained minor injuries and are currently admitted to KIMS hospital for treatment.

According to Police Commissioner R Dileep, an investigation into stone pelting incident has been ordered and suspected individuals involved in the attack against the police personnel have been detained.

Today several incidents of police attacked by mob for trying to stop mass namaz at mosques have emerged from several places. Stones were pelted on police at mosques at Aligarh and Kannauz, causing injury to several policemen.

Earlier this week, the Muslims had assembled at a local mosque in Bhogaon, Mainpuri on Wednesday to offer namaz at a time when Uttar Pradesh government had issued orders that no religious places will be kept open for prayers during the lockdown. The local administration had also appealed the Muslims to not assemble at the mosque. When the police tried to stop the people from offering collective namaz, in the view of the coronavirus threat, the agitated Muslim mob unleashed an attack on the policemen.

Before that, a Muslim mob in Meerut created a ruckus over being stopped from offering namaz in the mosques by the city police. Scores of Muslims had hit the streets at around 5:30 PM on Sunday in Meerut following the 5-minute celebration of gratitude expressed towards the frontline workers fighting the coronavirus. Flouting the rules, they had assembled at different mosques in the town- Sisiganj, Safety Tank, Rajbandh Market, Kotwali, Lisadi Gate and Nauchandin, to offer the evening prayers.

No pills, Sharing unwashed utensils, washroom and water for Wuzu: How Tablighi Jamaat’s lifestyle made them super-spreaders

OpIndia Staff
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No pills, Sharing unwashed utensils, washroom and water for Wuzu: How Tablighi Jamaat’s lifestyle made them super-spreaders

A man from Telangana, who has stayed for three weeks at the Markaz Nizamuddin, the Delhi Centre of Tablighi Jamaat, expressed no surprise over the centre emerging as the newest hotspot for the coronavirus outbreak in the country. While talking to the Swarajya Magazine’s Swati Goyal Sharma, he asserted that the practices followed at Jamaat “guaranteed” that the virus would spread to other inmates.

While requesting to be anonymous, the Telangana man who lived for three weeks in November last year at the Markaz building, contended that his organisation, Tablighi Jamaat, teaches its adherents to “model oneself on the life of Muhammad PBUH”. He added that the organisation teaches them to solemnly follow the tenets of the Quran and to lead his life the way Muhammad PBUH lived his. “We follow him in everything we do – the way we eat and drink, and even urinate,” he said.

Johny (name changed), who requested to remain anonymous, was born a Christian but later converted to Islam in June 2019 in order to persuade his girlfriend’s family to accept him. In August, after having done with the mandatory circumcision, he joined the Tablighi Jamaat group, based on a piece of advice given to him by a “doctor”.

Johny now claims that he shares a strong bond with the organisation and is deeply connected with them. However, he has problems with the way he and other inmates lived at the Markaz. He said that the news that Tablighi Jamaat centre in Delhi had turned out to be a super-spreader of the coronavirus outbreak did not set him back on his heels.

‘We lived together and ate from the utensil. At a time, four of us would sit down together and eat bread, rice and curry in one big plate. We all ate from it together and without using any spoon or cutlery. Once we are done eating, we would leave the plate as it and another batch of four would come and eat in the same plate. This would continue for about 6 to 7 batches,” he said.

Johny also revealed that the lavatory facilities at the centre were not up to the snuff, saying that there were few and common toilets to be shared between a large number of Muslim clerics. He said that there was no fixed count of men residing in the centre, with more than 1000 men living in the Markaz at its peak.

“If you have to use the toilet, you had to wait for at least half-an-hour at any given point in time in the day. That’s how crowded the centre was,” he said. Johny claimed that during his stay at the Markaz, the washrooms with ‘Indian seats’ always reeked of bad odour, given the large number of men who used it. “However, they were washed just once a day by a cleaner,” he added.

Furthermore, Johny said that the members of the organisation drew the water for ‘Wudu’, a purification ritual among Muslims where they wash their faces, hands, arms and feet with water before performing namaz, from the same small swimming pool kind of a water area in the Markaz. “The fact that all of us used the same water for Wudu, the spread of the virus is but natural,” he said.

While he had some issues with the orthodox practices and teachings espoused by the organisation, he claimed that he is profoundly attached to the group because he believes that “they teach him how to live life the right way”.

Talking about the orthodox teachings of the organisation, Johny claimed that the organisation proscribed its adherents from using mobile phones inside the building. “If anyone saw us using our mobile phones inside the centre, they would taunt us-‘what kind of Muslim you are’,” he said.

Johny says that in January, he had a bad bout of cough, cold and fever. “I never took any pill throughout. It subsided in 20-25 days on its own. I wonder if it was the virus. In any case, I am out of it now and there is no point of getting myself checked,” he says.

In addition, Johny disclosed that the preachers at the centre emphasised on “prayers” as a cure to every problem in their sermons. “They taught us that we should place unwavering faith on Allah and abstain from visiting doctors and hospitals,” he said.

However, Johny said that he did agree with every teaching that they taught, admitting that if he gets seriously ill, he would certainly visit a doctor.

“In January, I was down for a few days with cold and flu. I did not take any medicines for it. It eventually receded after 20-25 days. I don’t know if that was the virus. In any case, I am out of it now and there is no point of getting myself checked,” he said.

According to the reports, 13000 people have been estimated to have attended the 10-day Tablighi Jamaat iztema(congregation) in Delhi in mid-March, who are under the scrutiny of authorities. Out of 13000, 8000 have already been identified as high risk who may disseminate the virus in other parts of the country. So far, 647 coronavirus cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat iztema have been identified across the country. In Delhi, out of the current tally of 293 cases, 182 were evacuated from the Markaz Nizamuddin.

Ummah above gender: The Wire journalist refuses to believe nurses’ complaint about Tablighi Jamaatis harassing them

OpIndia Staff
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Ummah above gender: The Wire journalist refuses to believe nurses’ complaint about Tablighi Jamaatis harassing them

Senior Editor at The Wire, Arfa Khanum Sherwani, has declared the perverts of Tablighi Jamaat innocent and accused the female staff of the MMG Hospital at Ghaziabad, who were victims of the perverts’ sexually predatory behaviour, of indulging in propaganda. The female staff of the hospital had said that the members of the Islamic missionary organization were roaming around their wards naked and were directing lewd gestures at them. However, journalist Arfa Khanum Sherwani has proclaimed that they are lying.

Arfa Khanum Sherwani said that she refused to believe they will harass or molest women. She said, “I know them as selfless individuals who leave materialistic world, even their families in service of religion/society”. She howled, “Stop the propaganda NOW!”

The tweet made by Arfa Khanum Sherwani

Arfa Khanum Sherwani then proceeded to engage in familiar victim-mongering over the alleged plight of Muslims in India. She claimed that Tablighi Jamaat did not deserve this unfair treatment by the media and asserted that in guise of attacking Tablighi Jamaat, the media was targeting the entire Muslim community. She said, “God forbid, if Muslims are attacked because of the vicious campaign around Jamat, the propaganda of media and the silence of the authorities will be responsible for it.”

While Arfa Khanum Sherwani says that she refuses to believe that the Jamaatis will indulge in such behaviour, the fact is that the on-duty nurses of MMG Hospital nurses had lodged a written complaint regarding their objectionable behaviour. The nurses, in their complaint to the Police, had alleged that the men were roaming naked around their wards, making lewd gestures at them, listening to vulgar songs and when they are given medicines, they refuse to take it and misbehave with them. They also claimed that the Jamaatis had been asking for beedi-cigarettes from the housekeeping staff and when they are told to remain away from each other, they sit together in close proximity.

The nurses’ complaint that Arfa Khanum Sherwani refuses to believe

The Chief Medical Officer of the District MMG Hospital in Ghaziabad said the same in a letter to the Ghaziabad Police. The letter also states that obscene comments and songs were being heard from the ward, and inmates were asking for beedi-cigarettes from the staff of the hospital. The letter by CMO states that the staff nurses of the hospital had already written a letter to the police regarding the matter, and requested the police to take necessary action so that the Jamaatis could be disciplined.

Consequently, six patients who were admitted at the MMG Hospital’s isolation ward have been shifted to the Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology on Friday and kept under quarantine. An FIR has been lodged against them for misbehaving with the staff. NSA has also been slapped on them for indulging in sexually perverted behaviour with the nurses. Furthermore, the Uttar Pradesh Government has decreed that female health professionals and policewomen will not be deployed for the treatment and security of members of the Tablighi Jamaat.

According to The Wire editor Arfa Khanum Sherwani, however, everyone is lying and even the victim nurses are engaging in propaganda but Tablighi Jamaat alone is the epitome of virtue. The people Arfa Khanum Sherwani is supporting and whose integrity she is vouching for are the same ones who have been spitting on doctors and others working with them in their efforts to get them infected with the Wuhan Coronavirus, and also attacking policemen and healthcare workers who are looking for people who had attended the Jamaat to screen them. It remains to be seen how the leftist feminists who preach ‘Believe All Women’ in matters of sexual harassment and abuse will react to the development.

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