NewsGate Press Network

It was Day Two of the horror story unfolding from its epicenter  in Delhi’s Nizamuddin area where head of Islamic preaching station of Tablighi Jamaat exhorted his followers to ‘openly defy authorities’ during COVID19 lockdown period.

Now it is a matter of fact that members of Tablighi Jamaat (Preachers of Islam) soon after their unauthorised congregation, held between March 13th to March 15th, fanned-out to least 18 states within India allegedly carrying and spreading COVID19 virus.

Six attendees who took part in the congregation died in Telangana on Monday night (30-March-2020).

Fifty attendees were declared positive cases in Tamil Naidu and 24 in Delhi. Health Ministry officials told media persons late on Tuesday night that this number could rise in the coming days as results of tests conducted on followers of TJs (Tablighi Jamaat) were awaited.

Delhi Police has registered an FIR against Tablighi Jamaat preacher Maulana Saad and other members of the outfit under Section 3 of The  Epidemic Diseases Act (1897) for organising a congregation at Nizamuddin West Markaz amid the COVID19 virus outbreak.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal while addressing media via video link said 1,548 people were evacuated from the Markaz Tablighi Jamaat over the past three days. Of these, 441 were symptomatic of COVID-19. They are now in hospital and rest of them quarantined at three different locations in the National Capital, Keriwal added.

An assessment done by the Union Home Ministry suggested that foreign nationals from 16 countries had taken part in this controversial gathering of Islamic preachers.

Tourists visas issued to nearly 800 Indonesians, who took part in TJs religious activity, are likely to be cancelled and blacklisted for all future visits to India.

A detail fact sheet released by the Home Minister on Tabligh’s Markez (Markez means HQ) stated that foreign nationals from  Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Kyrgyzstan had reported for Tablighi activities at Nizamuddin West just few meters away from holy shrine of sufi saint Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya.

All such foreign nationals normally report their arrival at Tabligh Markaz at Banglewali Mosque in Hazrat Nizamuddin in New Delhi. From here, they are detailed for Chilla activities to different parts of the country,” the Ministry statement said.

An estimated 1,746 persons had assembled for Tabligh Jamaat at Nizamuddin markaz in New Delhi on March 21, out of which 1,530 hailed from states across India while 216 were foreign nationals.

After facing the heat of acquisitions Tablighi Jamaat issued a press statement on Tuesday evening denying that they had broken social distancing laws, saying it was forced to accommodate visitors stranded by the lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24, with just four hours’ notice.

Tablighi’s press statement added: “A rumour started gaining ground across social media that allegedly people affected with COVID-19 are present in Markaz. It is also being circulated that certain deaths have occurred due to the same.”

“Under such compelling circumstances there was no option for Markaz Nizamuddin but to accommodate the stranded visitors with prescribed medical precautions till such time that situation becomes conducive for their movement or arrangements are made by the authorities,” the Jamaat statement said.