Pala bishop must withdraw statement: Muslim organisations

‘Govt. should not remain idle, must take strong action’

A meeting of Muslim religious organizations in Kozhikode on Wednesday demanded that the Bishop of Pala to withdraw his controversial statement on ‘narcotics jihad’.

Briefing the media after the meeting, IUML high-power committee member and Malappuram district president Panakkad Syed Sadiqali Shihab Thangal and party organising secretary E.T. Mohammed Basheer, MP, said that any statement that undermined the religious harmony of the State was improper. Also, the government should not remain idle when such incidents occur and that it should intervene and take strong action as well, they said.

(The statement of Mar Joseph Kallarangatt, Bishop of the Pala diocese of the Syro-Malabar Church that ‘narcotic jihad’ was targeting young people belonging to non-Muslim faiths had triggered a major controversy. He had also alleged that young women, belonging to Christianity and other non-Muslim faiths, were being lured by ‘jihadis’ through ‘love jihad’ and subjected to exploitation, forced religious conversion and terrorist activities.)