Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi expressed confidence in stronger India-Afghanistan ties following a visit to Darul Uloom Deoband, thanking the people for their warm welcome and indicating plans to send new diplomats to India.
Darul Uloom Deoband refutes claims of barring women journalists from covering Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi's visit, following controversy over their absence at a press conference in Delhi.
The scheduled visit of Afghanistan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to Agra has been cancelled. The cancellation was confirmed by officials, though no reason was provided. Muttaqi is currently on a six-day trip to India, the first such visit by a senior Taliban minister in four years.
'I hang my head in shame when I see the kind of respect and reception that has been given to the representative of the world's worst terrorist group Taliban, by those who beat the pulpit against all kinds of terrorists'
Developing relations with the Taliban is needed, but plunging headlong into Afghanistan without due thought will be akin to the rooster entering a KFC outlet, warns Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi arrived in New Delhi for a six-day visit, marking the first high-level trip from Kabul since the Taliban's takeover. He is scheduled to meet with Indian officials to discuss bilateral relations and regional issues.
Nazir Ahmed Wani, the main accused in the 1993 Deoband bomb blasts, has been arrested in Srinagar after evading capture for 31 years. Wani, wanted for his involvement in the bomb attacks, was arrested by a joint operation of the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and local police. The blasts occurred during communal violence in Deoband following the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.
'During the 5-day visit, Amir Khan Muttaqi would have, conceivably, bumped into our powerful security agencies one way or another and some interaction would have ensued, which, in turn, can lead to future dealings.' 'Indeed, this will be the one crucial template of the Indo-Afghan relationship that Pakistan will be monitoring closely,' points Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
Women will have to wear hijab and have to be accompanied by a family member to enter the campus, according to the rules that came into effect on Friday.
Ashraf Usmani, a spokesperson of Darul Uloom Deoband, described the step as being taken under the direction of the institution's 'Mohtamim' (head) Abul Qasim Nomani.
'They wanted the city to be a great business hub. They didn't like the fact that taxes collected in Bombay would go outside the city.'
In the statement issued on Thursday, the commission said the violation of any order or directive of the commission is a punishable offence under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code.
The Delhi High Court has stayed the release of the movie 'Udaipur Files' amid concerns that it could promote communal disharmony. The court has directed petitioners to approach the central government with their grievances, and the stay will remain in effect until the government decides on the matter.
"The CEO has sought a report in this regard from the local administration," said official sources.
Chief Rector of Darul Uloom, Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani, has asked Saudi Arabia to rethink its decision, saying otherwise a wrong message may be conveyed to Muslims.
He claimed that Deoband's ancient name was Devvrad and evidences to support it were being collected.
Kashmiri separatists on Monday rejected the suggestion made by the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, the powerful body of Deobandi clerics, at its Kashmir conference at Deoband that 'the issue should be resolved within the parameters of the Constitution of India.'
Sahim Salim travels to Deoband in Uttar Pradesh to find answers to some of the questions that have sharply divided the Darul Uloom seminary
Leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Wednesday demanded that "controversial authors" be kept away from the Jaipur Literature Festival in the PinkCity.
A few words of praise for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi have eventually cost Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi his coveted job as vice chancellor of Darul Uloom, Deoband, widely recognised as India's leading Islamic seminary.
The two-day India visit by Islamic hardliner and Pakistan's Jamiat-ul-Islami chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is believed to be aimed at reinforcing the anti-Vastanvi forces at the Darul-Uloom Deoband seminary in Uttar Pradesh, where the recently appointed vice chancellor Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi had drawn much flak for praising Narendra Modi's governance in Gujarat.
"First apologize publicly, throw out Kalyan Singh and his son from the Samajwadi Party and then come and meet us" said the Ullemas of Deoband, refusing to meet the Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh who had gone there on Monday to get feedback on the party's tie up with the former BJP chief minister.
'Educated Muslim women overwhelmingly voted for me because of Modiji's stand on triple talaq.'
Seeking to make changes in the process of granting recognition to madrassas, Uttar Pradesh Minority Welfare Minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has said that two universities will be opened in the state and all madrassas will be affiliated to them.
If Vastanvi had blundered in appearing to praise Modi, his detractors, such as the pro-Congress Madnis, were no less blameworthy, being closely linked with a party that was no less anti-Muslim than the BJP, says Yogi Sikand
In a significant development, the Deoband school of Islamic thought on Sunday formally declared the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir as an integral part of India. This was the first time that the leading Islamic seminary of north India endorsed what was the official stand of the Indian government.
Caught in a controversy relating to his appreciation of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Deoband based Darul Uloom vice chancellor Maulana Mohammad Ghulam Vastanvi offered to step down.
Reliable sources claim that certain top figures within one (of the three rival) factions of the Deobandi mass organisation Jamiat ul-Ulema-e Hind are the real brains behind the ongoing hate campaign directed against Vastanvi, and that they are using Vastanvi's alleged pro-Modi remarks and certain other accusations now being leveled against him to oust him, says Yogi Sikand
Darul Uloom of Deoband, the largest seminary in the country, has issued a fatwa (edict) against female foeticide, calling the act unlawful and against Islam.
Amid controversy over his remarks on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Maulana Gulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who has announced his decision to resign as vice chancellor of Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, has said that people in Gujarat felt that development is happening in the state.
In a potentially controversial decree, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has said that donation of blood and body parts was against the tenets of Islam, but observed that giving blood to save the life of a near and dear one was acceptable.
In a fresh fatwa, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deboand has said that Islam does not permit celebrating birthdays. Responding to a query posed by a woman, the country's biggest Islamic seminary observed that the tradition to celebrate birthdays was started by the Jews and Christians, but Islam does not permit this practice. The Darul Uloom Deoband has in recent days issued edicts declaring that working in banks and opting for an insurance policy were against Islam.
The fatwas issued by the Dar ul-Uloom Deoband not only greatly restrict Indian Muslim women's access to employment but also effectively debar them from quality higher education.
The rape case made headlines as a local community panchayat passed a verdict that the woman should treat her husband as her son, triggering outrage among women activists.
Clerics at Uloom's Darul ifta, the body which issues fatwas, says contraceptives are permissible so that 'the children are properly nourished.'
The then Uttar Pradesh chief secretary, Durga Shankar Mishra, in an order dated June 26 and issued to all the district magistrates of the state, cited a letter from the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights dated June 7.
A fatwa has been issued by a leading Islamic seminary against modelling by Muslim women. Darul-uloom Deoband has said that exhibiting bodies by Muslim women while modelling is against the Shariat law. The fatwa, which describes modelling as 'un-Islamic', was issued by Mufti Habibur Rehman, Mufti Mehmood Hasan, Mufti Fakhrul Islam, Mufti Zanul Islam and Mufti Waqar Ali of the seminary on Monday.
Terming the Right to Education Act as an "attack" on the sovereignty of madarsas and other minority institutions, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Thursday said it will oppose it.
Deoband chief Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi's statement praising Gujarat's progress is een by many as a tacit stamp of approval for Narendra Modi. Yoginder Sikand looks at the implications of Vastanvi's words.
Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi, the first Gujarati rector of the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, is finding himself in the eye of the storm, barely 10 days after he appointed to the post. The Muslim community across the country has been up in arms against Vastanvi after his remark on 'prosperity of Narendra Modi's Gujarat'.
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