Deve Gowda welcomes fatwa against terrorism

New Delhi, Jun 3: Former Prime Minister and Janata Dal (Secular) President H D Deve Gowda today welcomed the 'Fatwa' issued against terrorism by noted Islamic seminary Darul-ULoom, saying it was a ''fitting reply'' to the anti-minority propaganda spread by communal elements. Mr Gowda said the fatwa was a fitting reply to the propaganda unleashed by communal elements at a time when confusion prevailed in the people's mind about Islam's position on terrorism. Mutual love and brotherhood were the hallmarks of Indian culture and society always managed to defeat terrorists' designs.

The Fatwa had ''nailed the lies'' of communal elements equating Islam with Jihad and terrorism and also of some Muslim organisations who sympathised with violence when it should be condemned immediately, he said in a statement. Mr Gowda said the JD(S) had always believed that Islam preached peace and brotherhood and had taken a position that individual acts of aberration should not be attributed to an entire community. He also decried the ''tendency to persecute the members of a community for the sake of boosting the electoral fortunes'' of any particular community in the name of investigation.

The Centre and State Governments should actively and sincerely pursue the implementation of reservation for minorities in educational institutions, he said. There should be proportional quota for Muslims in elected bodies including State Legislatures and Parliament for Muslim women within the proposed 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state Legislatures, Mr Gowda added.

UNI