HYDERABAD/DELHI: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday urged Muslims to wear black armbands while offering Friday prayers as a mark of protest against the terror attack at Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir.
In a video message, the Hyderabad MP stressed the need to send a strong message to “foreign forces” that Indians will not let them weaken the country’s peace and unity.
“My appeal in connection with the terrorist attack in Pahalgam: Tomorrow when you go to offer Namaaz-e-Jumma, wear a black band on your arm. By doing this, we will send the message that we Indians will not let foreign forces weaken the peace and unity of India,” he said.
“With this attack, the terrorists have got an opportunity to target our Kashmiri brothers. I appeal to all Indians not to fall prey to the tricks of the enemy,” he added.
Attends all-party meet
Earlier in the day, Owaisi attended the all-party meeting convened by the Union government on the Pahalgam terror attack, hours after he found fault with the Centre for not inviting smaller parties to the meeting.
Owaisi, in a social media post, had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to invite all political parties irrespective of their strength in Parliament. The Hyderabad MP said the all-party meeting was of national importance.
“Just now I got a call from the Home Minister’s office and they asked me to come (for the meeting). I will attend the meeting,” Owaisi said.
Owaisi said he spoke to Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju on Wednesday night and was informed that the NDA government
was thinking of inviting only parties with “five or 10 MPs”. He said when he asked why parties with fewer MPs were not invited, the Union minister replied that the meeting would get “too long” and “joked” that the AIMIM leader’s “voice is anyway, too loud”.
“Your own party (BJP) does not have a majority. Whether it is a party with 1 MP or a 100, they were both elected by Indians and deserve to be heard on such an important matter. This is not a political issue, it is a national issue. Everyone must be heard. I urge Narendra Modi to make this a real ALL Party Meeting, every party with an MP in Parliament must be invited,” he said.
Owaisi said it is not the BJP’s or another party’s internal meeting, but an all-party meeting to send a strong and united message against terrorism and those countries that harbour terrorists.
Congress politicising Pahalgam terrorist attack: Laxman
Slamming the Congress for claiming that “intelligence failure” led to the terror attack on tourists at Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir, BJP MP K Laxman on Thursday accused the grand old party of trying to politicise the incident.
Addressing the media at the state BJP office here, Laxman claimed that the Congress Working Committee failed to even utter a single word against Pakistan. “The Congress continues to have love for Pakistan. It is not surprising at all,” he said. “A few Congress leaders, at both the state and AICC level, still love Pakistan,” he said.