Shia chief fears threat to life

Lucknow: The UP Shia Central Waqf Board chairman Waseem Rizvi, who stirred a controversy by claiming the madrasas produce terrorists, has now demanded adequate security from the government. Mr Rizvi has been slapped with a Rs 20-crore defamation suit by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind and has received death threats on social media after he wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath requesting a ban on madrasas that breed terrorists.

Though Mr Rizvi said that he is yet to receive the notice sent to him by the Maharashtra branch of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, he said that he had also received death threats on the social media.

The notice sent to Mr Rizvi accuses him of using extremely objectionable language in the January 9 letter sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which has harmed the reputation of Madarasas and Muslims.

The letter that was released to the media, accuses Mr Rizvi of alleging that madarasas produce terrorists instead of doctors and engineers and radicalise the Muslim youth.

Mr Rizvi, meanwhile, explained that he had requested Mr Modi and Yogi Adityanath to ban only those madarasas that are funded by foreign countries. “The mentality, power and network of a few radical Islamists have been exposed before the world in this letter. They distorted my statement and brought entire Muslim community against me. I was talking about some specific madrasas only,” he said.