Bareilly, Oct 9 (IANS) All India Muslim Jamaat National President, Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Razvi Barelvi, on Friday urged Muslim youths to refrain from participating in the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) scheduled protest on Saturday, saying that those from the community who had taken part in the agitation last time, had to face "considerable difficulties".
The CJP is scheduled to stage a protest at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar on Saturday to demand the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar over alleged irregularities in the conduct of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Speaking to IANS, the Muslim cleric said: "Staging a demonstration is every person's right; it is our legal right. However, no one can be allowed to resort to violence. I want to appeal to all Muslim youths living in Delhi or in the districts of Uttar Pradesh to stay away from the Cockroach Janta Party's upcoming sit-in protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi and not participate in it under any circumstances."
"This is because violent incidents have occurred during the CJP's protest, in recent days. Muslims are a vulnerable section of the society, and some of them who participated in that protest, had to face considerable difficulties later. Based on this experience, I am urging Muslims to not take part in the protest and instead carry on with their work and studies. It is for their own benefit," Maulana Mufti Shahabuddin Razvi said.
He was referring to the previous agitation of the CJP, that led to the resignation of former Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Meanwhile, the national capital has been turned into a fortress for the planned demonstration with more than 23,000 security personnel likely to be on duty.
Earlier, the Delhi Police said that permission for the CJP's protest has been denied due to the organisers' failure to comply with legal directions and their own undertakings during an earlier protest and sought the closure of 57 Metro stations.
Following the Delhi Police's proposal, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) announced earlier on Friday that the entry and exit of 57 Metro stations will be closed from 9 p.m. on Friday till further orders, in view of the agitation.
However, the Supreme Court directed that there should be no complete stoppage of Metro train services ahead of the proposed CJP protest in the national capital on Saturday, and asked the Centre to ensure that Metro and other railway services are allowed to operate in a suitably regulated manner to minimise inconvenience to the public.
