By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi : Muslim leaders have come heavily down upon the Union Government for hurting the Indian Muslims by granting yet another visa extension to the controversial Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.
The Centre granted Wednesday visa extension to Taslima for six more months with effect from February 17 while refusing a French proposal to confer the Simone de Beauvoir Award on her during President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to India citing ‘security reasons’.
Expressing their grave concern over the Centre’s move to extend Taslima’s visa, the Muslim leaders, one after another, called it "deliberate attempt to hurt the Muslims in India."
Condemning the Centre’s move, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind general secretary Maulana Syed Mahmood Madani termed it as an "open attack on the believers in religion and morality" and "tantamount to surrendering before the practitioners of obscenity, immorality and ir-religiosity."
"It is indeed shameful to extend the visa of Taslima Nasreen and allow Salman Rushdie to roam in the country," he said.
Imam Shahi Masjid Fetehpuri Delhi Maulana Mufti Mukarram Ahmad said, "The launching of Israeli Spy Satellite ‘Polaris’ from the Indian soil, maintaining silence on sanctions on Iran, and now extending the visa of Taslima Nasreen show that the government gives least importance to 20 crore Indian Muslims in its domestic and foreign policy-making."
Sharing his view, Samajwadi Party general secretary Shahid Siddiqui said the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre does not care for the sentiments of Muslims. It is as if "Muslims were bounded labours of the Congress."
Deputy Speaker Delhi Assembly Soib Iqbal alleged "the UPA government of having surpassed the NDA in its hostility towards Muslims."
Member Central Advisory Council Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Dr. Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas said the UPA government is playing in the hands of fascist forces. "Muslims will have to consider it afresh," he added.
Muslim organisations and religious leaders had been demanding that Taslima’s visa not be extended and that she be asked to leave India. As many as seven Muslim representative organisations, including Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, had moved the Union Government earlier this month, urging it not to extend the visa of the controversial writer. They had also urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take strict action against her for hurting the religious sentiments of the Muslims.