No place should given for burial of terrorists: Council

Mumbai, Nov 30 (UNI) The Muslim Council of India, an Islamic organisation, today demanded that no place should be offered for burial of the nine terrorists who were killed during their battle with the security forces in the 26/11 terror attacks, in the city.

In a letter to the Jama Masjid Trust, which looks after the management of the biggest graveyard of the state at Marine Lines in south Mumbai, the secretary of the council Sarfaraz Arzoo said they have requested the Trust not to perform the last rites of the terrorist bodies in the graveyard, as they were involved in the henious crimes and cannot be considered as true Muslims, as they did not follow the tenents of Islam.

When contacted, Hanif Nalkhande, the trustee of the graveyard, said they had received the letter and the trust would not bear expenses of burial of the unclaimed bodies. ''However, as per the Islamic rule, a Muslim graveyard cannot stop the burial of a Muslim, whether he was a murderer, rapist or had committed any kind of crime, so we will not stop the burial,'' he added.

Senior Inspector of Police, Jayant Sarmukadam of L T Marg police station, under whose jurisdiction the graveyard falls said, ''As per norms, we hand over unclaimed bodies from the Muslim community to the Trust which performs the last rites. But in this case, if they refuse to bear the cost, it becomes the duty of the police to bear the expenses from the government treasury.'' UNI AAA SR JT NS2141