Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has strongly condemned the arrest of Maulana Abdul Qavi, vice president of Jamiat Ulema in Hyderabad, at the Delhi airport while he was on way to Deoband.
Jamaat has termed it as the worst example of state terror as well as the injustices and violation of human rights being suffered by Muslims for last several years. Jamaat demanded the government to end such anti-Muslim atrocities.
Nusrat Ali, secretary general of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said “leaders of Muslim organizations have been demanding the Central government to stop detention and arrest of Muslims, especially the educated among them, and release the arrested persons and award them proper compensation.”
Police have been continuing the arrest of more and more Muslims, only to terrorize the entire community, ignoring the instructions of Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde. The arrest of Maulana Abdul Qavi and some Muslim youths two days earlier in Rajasthan and Delhi was latest example of the continuing state terror against Muslims.
Jamaat’s Secretary General wondered why the government is not trying to understand that this undemocratic and unjustified attitude will only harm the country and its image and will cause shame for the country in the entire world.
He demanded immediate release of Abdul Qavi, legal action against the guilty police officers and full compensation for sullying the image of a Muslim organization and its leader.
He also asked Muslims to collectively protest against the ongoing injustices in the country, not to become victim of fear psychology and counter the conspiracy against the country and community through effective use of laws of the land.
He also advised Muslims to use the collective power of vote in the Lok Sabha elections to defeat those people who have caused problems for the community.
Jamaat condemns arrest of Jamiat Ulema leader at Delhi airport
Jamaat condemns arrest of Jamiat Ulema leader at Delhi airport
‘A den of bandits’: Rwanda closes thousands of evangelical churches
- A 2018 law introduced new rules on health, safety, and financial disclosures, and requires all preachers to have theological training
- Observers say the real reason for the closures comes down to control, noting that even those who complied with the law had been shut down
- President Kagame has described the church as a relic of the colonial period, a chapter of its history with which the country is still grappling
KIGALI: Grace Room Ministries once filled giant stadiums in Rwanda three times a week before the evangelical organization was shut down in May.
It is one of the 10,000 churches reportedly closed by the government for failing to comply with a 2018 law designed to regulate places of worship.
The law introduced new rules on health, safety, and financial disclosures, and requires all preachers to have theological training.
President Paul Kagame has been vocal in his criticisms of the evangelical churches that have sprouted across the small country in Africa’s Great Lakes region.
“If it were up to me I wouldn’t even reopen a single church,” Kagame told a news briefing last month.
“In all the development challenges we are dealing with, the wars... our country’s survival — what is the role of these churches? Are they also providing jobs? Many are just thieving... some churches are just a den of bandits,” he said.
The vast majority of Rwandans are Christian according to a 2024 census, with many now traveling long and costly distances to find places to pray.
Observers say the real reason for the closures comes down to control.
Kagame’s government is saying “there’s no rival in terms of influence,” Louis Gitinywa, a lawyer and political analyst based in Kigali, told AFP.
The ruling party “bristles when an organization or individual gains influence,” he said, a view also expressed to AFP by an anonymous government official.
‘Deceived’
The 2018 law requires churches to submit annual action plans stating how they align with “national values.” All donations must be channelled through registered accounts.
Pastor Sam Rugira, whose two church branches were shut down last year for failing to meet fire safety regulations, said the rules mostly affected new evangelical churches that have “mushroomed” in recent years.
But Kagame has described the church as a relic of the colonial period, a chapter of its history with which the country is still grappling.
“You have been deceived by the colonizers and you let yourself be deceived,” he said in November.
The closure of Grace Room Ministries came as a shock to many across the country.
Pastor Julienne Kabanda, had been drawing massive crowds to the shiny new BK Arena in Kigali when the church’s license was revoked.
The government had cited unauthorized evangelical activities and a failure to submit “annual activity and financial reports.”
AFP was unable to reach Kabanda for comment.
‘Open disdain, disgust’
A church leader in Kigali, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said the president’s “open disdain and disgust” for churches “spells tough times ahead.”
“It is unfair that even those that fulfilled all requirements are still closed,” he added.
But some say the clampdown on places of worship is linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide in which around 800,000 people, mostly ethnic Tutsis, were slaughtered.
Ismael Buchanan a political science lecturer at the National University of Rwanda, told AFP the church could sometimes act as “a conduit of recruitment” for the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), the Hutu militia formed in exile in DR Congo by those who committed the genocide.
“I agree religion and faith have played a key role in healing Rwandans from the emotional and psychological wounds after the genocide, but it also makes no sense to have a church every two kilometers instead of hospitals and schools,” he said.
Pastor Rugira meanwhile suggested the government is “regulating what it doesn’t understand.”
It should instead work with churches to weed out “bad apples” and help them meet requirements, especially when it comes to the donations they rely on to survive, he said.
