Khelafat Andolan Protests Life Sentences for Three Muslims in Gujarat

Bangladesh Khelafat Andolan Ameer Maulana Habibullah Miazi has strongly condemned and protested the life sentences handed down to three Muslims in India’s Gujarat in a case involving cow slaughter and an attempt to sell beef.

Describing the convictions, which cited Hindu religious texts, as entirely unreasonable and unconstitutional, he said the Vedas and Manusmriti could never serve as legal texts. He also questioned the rationale behind enforcing animal protection laws in a country where, he alleged, people were regularly killed without provocation or wrongdoing. He said that in a large democratic country like India, people of all religions should have the freedom to practise their faith, which is their democratic right.

Maulana Miazi further said India was one of the world’s major beef-exporting countries. “We fail to understand why cow slaughter or beef sales by Muslims should be prohibited by the state in such a country,” he said.

He alleged that the Indian government, driven by Hindutva ideology, was primarily targeting Muslims through oppression and killings under various pretexts. He demanded the immediate repeal of what he called the unreasonable law and the unconditional release of the three convicted Muslims: Wasim Qureshi, Mohammad Rafiq Qureshi and Ashfaq Behlami, along with the withdrawal of their sentences and fines.

Meanwhile, the Delhi High Court has stopped prayers at the 150-year-old Race Course Mosque in the Indian capital, near Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s residence, he said.

These incidents, he added, had once again exposed the situation of Muslims in India and state interference in their religious freedom. He warned that if persecution of Muslims in India was not stopped immediately, Muslims around the world would unite to establish their rightful rights in the country.