Dead Terrorists

MUMBAI: Muslim clerics in Mumbai said yesterday that the bodies of nine terrorists who carried out last week’s attacks in the city should not be buried in India.
A group of Muslim scholars representing about 50 religious organisations met to discuss how the community should respond to the attacks that killed at least 195 people and injured more than 300.
Only one of the 10 gunmen involved in the shootings and grenade attacks has been captured alive. India says all the attackers came from Pakistan.
“These people should be buried where they came from. There is no space for them on our holy land,” said Syed Moinuddin Ashraf, president of the city’s Jamia Qadriya Ashrafiya madrassa or Muslim religious school.
“Any country found involved in these attacks should be declared a terrorist state,” he added.
The bodies are currently lying in two morgues in Mumbai hospitals, where officials said they are waiting for the local government’s directions on what to do with them.
“It seems that non-profit bodies have been asked to bury them, but no one seems to be ready,” said one senior official at Mumbai’s Sir Jamsetjee Jeejebhoy (JJ) Hospital where eight bodies are being kept.
The authorities may also wait for a few more days in case someone makes a claim on the bodies, the official said.
The clerics said they hoped their recommendation to refuse burial in India would be heeded.
“If someone goes ahead and does it, it would be a big disappointment, a big letdown,” Ashraf said.
The clerics also called for strict punishment for anyone who had a role in the attacks.
“They should be given the severest punishment so that no one ever dares repeat such a thing,” said Mohamed Mansoor Ali Qadami, general secretary of the influential All India Sunni Jamiat-ul-Ulema group.
“The entire Muslim community condemns these attacks. No religion teaches people to kill.”
The gathering urged Indian political parties to refrain from trying to gain mileage from the attacks before general elections, which are due by May next year.
“Parties that make statements that can create divisions among people on religious lines should be banned,” Qadami said.
Muslims in Mumbai will hold a peace march after Friday prayers for the victims of the terror attacks.
Around 2mn of Mumbai’s estimated 18mn inhabitants are Muslim.
The clerics said their meeting also discussed ways to counter the perceived association of Islam with extremism.
“These are difficult times for the community. Hindus and Muslims in India are getting increasingly polarised,” Noori said.
“The killing of innocents is against Islam. They are bringing shame to the Muslims in India. These men are not Muslims. There is no place for them in our hearts and our cemeteries,” Hamid Abdul Razzak, president of the Dawat-i-Islami organisation said.
A representative of the influential Jama Masjid trust which runs the Badakabrastan graveyard in the heart of Mumbai said it would not bury the gunmen because they were not true followers of Islam. – Any suggestions