Delhi: Quran exhibition called off after protests

Delhi

Delhi: Quran exhibition called off after protests

Last Updated: Saturday, September 24, 2011, 18:41

New Delhi: An exhibition on Quran and the message of Islam being held here was called off Saturday mid-way through its schedule after facing protests from other Muslim groups.

The three-day exhibition was organised in the constitution club by Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat, a group of representatives of Ahmadiyyas sect of Muslims. The exhibition was supposed to end Sunday, however, following strong protests from majority of Muslim groups, led by the Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari.

The exhibition was wrapped up after apprehensions of tension as Bukhari announced a protest. This also resulted in a brief detention of Bukhari, spurting up tension in the area of old Delhi.

“We had to wrap up our exhibition after a protests from the hardliners,” a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamaat told agency.

“We were spreading the message of love, to tell the world that Quran is for everyone. But the hardliners don’t want this,” he said.

Bukhari was briefly detained and taken to the Daryaganj police station of old Delhi. The Shahi Imam said that they were protesting against the exhibition as it was not spreading “correct messages” of Islam.

“They don’t consider Prophet Mohammad the last prophet, hence they are not Muslims,” Bukhari said.

“We had urged the government to stop the exhibition as what they are promoting is not authentic. We gave the government time till Friday to close the exhibition, but our requests were not heard, so we decided to protest,” Bukhari told IANS.

“However, when we were to start the protest, I was detained along with my supporters and taken to Daryaganj police station,” he said.

Bukhari said that he then refused to leave the police station premise till the exhibition was called off.

“Protestors were gathering, they (police) then said that the exhibition was being wound-up,” he said.

Bukhari was at the police station from 12 noon to around 4 p.m.

According to police, the situation in the area is now normal.

“Bukhari was detained for some time in the morning. The situation in the area is normal now,” Central Delhi DCP Vivek Kishore said.

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Fearing row, Bukhari detained

Sat. 24 Sep 2011

New Delhi

Fearing row, Bukhari detained

First Published: 23:14 IST(24/9/2011)
Last Updated: 23:16 IST(24/9/2011)HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 24, 2011

The Shahi Imam of the Jama Masjid and more than a hundred of his supporters were detained for four hours at the Daryaganj Police Station on Saturday morning, police said. Police said Maulana Syed Ahmed Bukhari and motorcade composed of 25 to 30 vehicles, which was en route the Constitution Club to protest against a three-day seminar organised by proponents of the Ahmadiya sect, was intercepted at Delhi Gate around 12 pm.

“The step was in line with ensuring that the law and order situation did not get out of hand after the Imam and his followers reached the venue.

They were detained under Section 65 of the Delhi Police (DP) Act and later released at 3:30 pm,” said a senior police officer.

According to the Imam, his visit was meant to ensure that the said exhibition, which also featured copies of the Holy Quran containing modifications introduced by the sect as early as 1901, be cancelled on religious grounds.

“I had formally requested the state government to cancel the said exhibition because it is against the prevailing and true tenets of Islam – failing which I would go to the Club to ensure that it was called-off,” Maulana Bukhari told Hindustan Times.

He added that the works on display at the exhibition were ‘more desecrating than the Danish cartoon lampooning Prophet Muhammad’.

Police released the Imam and his supporters from the Daryaganj Police Station at 3:30 pm but the former refused to leave the premises till the authorities concerned called-off the seminar and communicated it to them at 3:45 pm.

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