NEW DELHI: Delhi-based Shia organisation Anjuman-e-Haideri has started the process of inviting tenders to hire chartered planes to send volunteers to militancy-hit Iraq if need be to protect the country’s holy shrines.
In the last two days, the organisation has seen about one lakh people, including Hindus, volunteering, of which only about 25,000 met all the criteria to go to Iraq. The organisation, however, has made it clear that it will prefer doctors and ex-army personnel as its intention is not to ‘fight’ but to offer help.
“Applications are coming from across the country and even people living outside India are sending their interest through e-mails,” said Bilal Husain, spokesman of Anjuman-eHaideri, an organisation that has the support of the Shia Muslims.
To send a message that terrorists have no religion, Shia and Sunni Muslims on Friday also took out a unity march from Nizamuddin Dargah to Jor Bagh in the afternoon. “We have the support of Hindus and so far 500 Hindu volunteers have got themselves registered. What is happening in Iraq is against humanity and we will do whatever possible under the legal framework to go and help out in that country,” Husain added.
Most of the volunteers, who are working professionals, said at least a million men will form a human chain around the holy shrines of Karbala and Najaf, as these were the most important place of worship for them.
“When I heard of it, I immediately went to Jor Bagh to get myself registered. Every year, 3-4 lakh Shia visit the holy shrines of Karbala and Najaf and we will request the government to allow us to go there. We are not going to fight but will save our holy shrines,” said 27-year-old Irshad Husain, a student from Kashmir, who is in Delhi for the last two years.
Similarly, an employee of a prominent hotel in Delhi, Syed Mohammad Khursheed Qazmi said the shrines needed to be protected and if they are not allowed to go directly from India, they will choose other routes to enter Iraq,” he said.
Apart from the fact that this seems to be a well-coordinated official move, what takes one by surprise is that even some Hindus are believed to have enrolled themselves, as claimed in this report.
The stated purpose in this is not to join fighting but to protect important places of worship there.
Be that as it may, the entire move is fraught with serious security implications. In case those who would be going come back, they will be with first-hand experience of being involved in terror-related situations. To try to translate that experience in brainwashing the disgruntled, unemployed and misguided youngsters, to whom they would appear to be ‘war-heroes’, will be the most natural step. The consequences thereof would not require much imagination to appreciate.
So, friends, as many amongst you as can, please write to the Union Home Minister and Home Secretary not only not to encourage but to scuttle this move firmly before it takes off the ground. An early action is warranted.
Source: Patriot Forum
