In a joint letter to Shah, DMC Chairman Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan and Member Kartar Singh Kochhar said that there was no conspiracy on part of the people stranded in the Tablighi Markaz or its leadership. They were innocent victims of this unseen epidemic like anyone else on this planet. They added that one section of the Tablighi Markaz leadership was insensitive and it failed to anticipate and realise the impending danger or its scale and hence continued its programmes as per schedule. The other section of Tablighi Jamaat based in Turkman Gate had cancelled all its programmes since early March 2020. The Nizamuddin Tabligh leadership was not alone in this. There are dozens of instances in Delhi and across the country where political leaders and ordinary people showed carelessness and insensitivity even after the announcement of the lockdown.

The letter further said that it was correct to evacuate the people stranded at the Tablighi Markaz and take them to medical facilities and quarantine centres. It was also a correct and a required step to order and search for people who came in contact with these stranded people from any part of the country.

But this correct campaign took two wrong directions due to insensitive briefing by government officials and sensational media coverage: (a) Every “Tablighi person” anywhere in the country became a suspect and was hunted down and placed under quarantine amid propaganda that they were “hiding” and “evading”. Mere past relationship of someone with Tablighi Jamaat does not make him per se a suspect. Instead, only those who were inside the Tablighi Markaz or visited it or came in contact with such persons outside the Markaz after the epidemic was discovered should be searched and quarantined. People of the Tablighi Jamaat who were not in the Tablighi Markaz, did not visit it during the said period and did not come in contact with any such person, must not be treated as suspects because coronavirus is not Tabligh-specific. But this exactly is happening in many places in the country where Tablighi people are being hunted only because they belong to the Tablighi Jamaat with no proof that they were in the Markaz at the said time or came in contact with anyone who was there at the time. We think call detail records (CDR) of anyone should be sufficient to prove his location at the given time or if he came in physical contact with someone who is a suspect.

The DMC letter further said that this has created a totally unnecessary scene across the country as unrelated Tablighi people are being hunted down and quarantined amid unnecessary propaganda and harassment, so much so that an innocent Tablighi person in Himachal Pradesh, who tested negative, committed suicide due to mocking and harassment; another in a Delhi village was lynched because he attended a Tablighi event in the far away Bhopal; a group is quarantined at present in a school in village Taruwala, tehsil Paonta Saheb, Himachal Pradesh, although the group was in Himachal Pradesh since 25 February 2020.

The DMC requested the Home Minister to issue instructions to the police and health officers not to harass Tablighi people who were not in the Markaz at the given time or had no contact with those who were stranded there when lockdown was declared.

The DMC letter further said that due to the reckless briefing by government officials and sensational media coverage, general public has come to equate Tablighi people with ordinary Muslims, which is not correct. While every Tablighi is a Muslim, not every Muslim is a Tablighi. This has caused harassment of Muslims in both urban and rural areas across the country. A clear instruction may be issued to all concerned to avoid usage of vague words and descriptions about Tablighi Jamaat which has put millions of Indian Muslims to inconvenience.

DMC has sent copies of this letter to the chief ministers of all Indian states because the harassment of Muslims in the name of Tablighi Jamaat is taking place all over the country.

The DMC also sent a joint letter to the Police Commissioner on 12 April saying that the fire of communalism is spreading in Delhi, especially in rural areas as a result of media trial and communal propaganda using social media. The letter brought to the notice of the Police Commissioner a case in an area of Delhi which vent viral on 11 April 2020.

The mail attached a copy of the video in which a Muslim fruit vendor is being thrashed for venturing into a “Hindu” area. The attacker is abusing the Holy Prophet of Islam. The face of the attacker is clearly visible. A singboard seen in the video belongs to a coaching centre in the Main Molarband Market, Jaitpur Road, Badarpur, South Delhi. A motorcycle is also seen in the video. It is an Splendor+ (Self-Drum-Cast) motorcycle bearing no. DL9SBX9250 and registered in the name of one Sudhanshu at Dwarka. The DMC letter said that continuation of such attacks against members of the Muslim community in NCT of Delhi is very worrisome and indicates police negligence and failure.

Action on this letter was taken and next day the miscreant was arrested from the place pinpointed in the DMC letter.

The letter also brought to the notice of the Police Commissioner that some meat shops have been closed by the local police in some areas of Delhi. Since meat is a food item, it falls under “essential” items and legal shops selling meat should be allowed to function.

The letter further said that DMC has come to know that there is no uniform policy about this, hence meat shops in some areas are open while in some areas local police have closed them down. The letter mentioned cases of two meat shops in Najafgarh Road under Runhola police station and another at Kamruddin Nagar under Nangloi police station. Both these shops have been closed by the local police. The letter said that if there is a policy decision to close all meat shops during the current Covid19-related restrictions, a copy of this order may be sent to DMC. If no such order exists, all police stations should be directed to let legal meat shops function as per existing rules

(This is Ahmedabad, Gujarat  based website)