While the entire world had a sigh of relief over the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh on Monday criticised the US for burial at sea given to the dreaded terrorist saying that his religious traditions should have been respected while burying.
“However big a criminal one might be, his religious traditions should be respected while burying him,” Digvijay said when asked about the burial process. The US has defended burial at sea of Osama saying that the body was handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition.
Analysts feels that the burial at sea was apparently due to fears that his land burial may become a site to attract his followers. But some Islamic organisations have said that it was not appropriate.
Incidentally, in Cario Muslim clerics said that Osama Bin Laden’s burial at sea was a violation of Islamic tradition that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets.
Although there appears to be some room for debate over the burial - as with many issues within the faith - a wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca.
Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship. “The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don’t think this is in the interest of the U.S. administration,” said Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical cleric in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said that the neutralisation of Osama bin Laden underscores the point which India has been making for long that Pakistan has become the sanctuary of terrorists of various shapes and elements within the neighbouring country are using terror as an instrument of state policy.
“The world needs to understand that the infrastructure of terror is seamless and same standard of prevention which is being deployed by the world on the Western side of Pakistan must be deployed to Eastern side also,” he said.
He said that India has been repeatedly and continuously telling international interlocuters that there is need to recognize that infrastructure of terror is seamless and it was not appropriate to make a distinction between one and other form of terror. To fight terror effectively and to bring terrorists to justice, a holistic and coordinated action utilising all resources must be taken.
“However big a criminal one might be, his religious traditions should be respected while burying him,” Digvijay said when asked about the burial process. The US has defended burial at sea of Osama saying that the body was handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition.
Analysts feels that the burial at sea was apparently due to fears that his land burial may become a site to attract his followers. But some Islamic organisations have said that it was not appropriate.
Incidentally, in Cario Muslim clerics said that Osama Bin Laden’s burial at sea was a violation of Islamic tradition that may further provoke militant calls for revenge attacks against American targets.
Although there appears to be some room for debate over the burial - as with many issues within the faith - a wide range of Islamic scholars interpreted it as a humiliating disregard for the standard Muslim practice of placing the body in a grave with the head pointed toward the holy city of Mecca.
Sea burials can be allowed, they said, but only in special cases where the death occurred aboard a ship. “The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don’t think this is in the interest of the U.S. administration,” said Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical cleric in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Congress spokesman Manish Tewari said that the neutralisation of Osama bin Laden underscores the point which India has been making for long that Pakistan has become the sanctuary of terrorists of various shapes and elements within the neighbouring country are using terror as an instrument of state policy.
“The world needs to understand that the infrastructure of terror is seamless and same standard of prevention which is being deployed by the world on the Western side of Pakistan must be deployed to Eastern side also,” he said.
He said that India has been repeatedly and continuously telling international interlocuters that there is need to recognize that infrastructure of terror is seamless and it was not appropriate to make a distinction between one and other form of terror. To fight terror effectively and to bring terrorists to justice, a holistic and coordinated action utilising all resources must be taken.
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