Even as the Tablighi Jamaatis and Jihadi elements are making all efforts to fail Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s efforts to check the spread of Chinese virus in India, Muslim countries around the world have taken bold steps to curb the pandemic from spreading.
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has banned “Umrah” for residents and citizens. It said the pilgrimage can be undertaken at any time of the year, not only during Haj.
The kingdom also has prevented foreigners from reaching the holy city of Mecca and the Kaaba, the building at the centre of the Great Mosque. It also suspended travel to Prophet Muhammad’s mosque in Medina.
Iran, with highest number of deaths among Muslim nations, has halted Friday prayers.
The Muslim-majority Tajikistan also has suspended Friday prayers. It has sealed its border to neighbours China and Afghanistan as well as South Korea, Iran and Italy.
It also had cancelled celebrations for Nowruz.
Indonesia, which boasts of 12.7 per cent of world’s Muslims, has asked worshippers to pray from home.
Malaysia, where the official religion is Islam, also has banned Muslims from going to mosques to pray.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin told Muslims nationwide to stay home and perform prayers at sermons streamed from mosques.
Singapore’s Muslim Affairs Minister Masagos Zulkifli has advised Muslims to stay at home if they showed any Chinese virus symptoms. There have been more than 100 cases of coronavirus in Singapore, and the majority of patients have recovered.
Yogi, By Far The Best In Dealing Jamaatis
In India, governments that are using iron hands are the BJP ruled states of Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.
The B S Yediyurappa government in Karnataka used the iron hands wherever necessary. The police canned Muslims, who had gathered in a mosque to offer namaz in Belagavi, for violating the 21-day lockdown.
However, UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has been the most stringent of law-makers in India to reign in Tablighi Jamaatis and Jihadis. He has slapped the National Security Act against those who attack police and other officials in Uttar Pradesh.
This decision was taken after the members of Tablighi Jamaat, who had attended the religious congregation in Delhi, for indulging in obscenity and making lewd gestures at nurses and female para-medical staff of a hospital.
Under NSA, the police are allowed to detain the accused without charges for up to a year if the accused were seen to threaten public order and sent to jail after completing the quarantine period.
The Jamaatis are accused of harassing the women staff by roaming without trousers, humming filthy songs and refusing to follow the isolation rules.
Similar reports of harassment of medical staff by Jamaatis are being reported from all over India.
In Lakhimpur Kheri, 10 jamatis were booked for offering prayers in a mosque despite the lockdown. In Kannauj, a group of 30 attacked policemen, who tried to disperse them from a house assembled for offering Friday namaz.
In quarantine centres at Kanpur, 31 Jamaatis littered their isolation wards with garbage and violated the norms of social distancing to offer namaz together in one ward.
In Agra, the Jamatis quarantined at a resort created a ruckus seeking beef biryani.
In Balrampur and Aligarh, the Jamaatis refused to cooperate with the medical staff, while being in isolation.
In Aligarh, they attacked the police party and resorted to stone pelting while being taken for isolation.
Yogi Adityanath has been an answer for these Jamaatis, but it is a matter of frustration that Home Minister Amit Shah, who is known for taking a strong action in Jammu and Kashmir while abrogating Article 370, has failed to cancel the Nizamuddin Markaz.
Almost the entire country is blaming the Jamaatis for spreading the virus across India. In this light, Modi and Shah should take stringent measures.
People are not demanding death penalty for lockdown violators, but expecting Modi and Shah to do a Yogi Adityanath in Delhi.