Turkey wants shut Fethullah Gulen’s ‘network’ in India
Acikgoz denied that Indialogue is an offshoot of Gulen’s Hizmet movement.
“Indialogue’s objectives are to champion proactive studies, to pioneer international, intercultural and interfaith dialogue initiatives and to promote universal values as love, respect, harmony, coexistence, cooperation, care and peace. We contribute to information exchange and networking on current issues of dialogue and peace building through its analyses and reports as well as academic and social meetings and conferences. Indialogue Foundation envisions eradicating polarisation, animosity and prejudice among communities and groups through its academic, social, interfaith and cultural events, programs and projects,” Acikgoz said.
Acikgoz added that his organisation seeks inspiration from many eminent scholars and spiritual personalities, including Fethullah Gulen. “Just as we revere Mahatma Gandhi and promote his ideas of non-violence and peace, we advertise Gulen’s thoughts in a similar fashion,” he said.
Acikgoz categorically denied that Indialogue is an offshoot of Gulen’s Hizmet movement, which has a worldwide network of educational and welfare organisations.
When asked about the funding of his organisation, he said that a major chunk of the funds comes from donors and contributors in India.
Akhlaque Usmani, a journalist covering international affairs with a focus on the Muslim world, said Gulen has a network in India and his people even fund some educational institutions in India. “But unlike in other countries, they perhaps don’t use Hizmet for that,” he said. He did not name such institutes but said that most of such institutes are of Sufi orientation, a religious and spiritual leaning which is readily accepted in India.
Like Indialogue, Adam Books, a publishing house based in old Delhi, publishes books of Gulen. A staff member from the publishing house said that people from the Turkish embassy have ordered the publication of Gulen’s works like Allah ke Paighambar ( Prophet of Allah), Nure Sarmadi in Urdu and Hindi and The Infinite Light, a biography of Prophet Muhammad, in English. Another Indian organisation called Muslim Educational, Social and Cultural Organisation (MESCO) had organised a question and answer quiz contest based on Gulen’s book, The Nectar, in 2012 for school students. As the Turkish President has signed a decree to shut down all bodies including schools and foundations linked to Gulen and requested all countries having the Gulen network on their soil to shut down such bodies, the Turkish ambassador to India has urged the Indian government in a press statement to take action against those linked to Gulen’s network in India. But Indialogue foundation, Adam Books and MESCO denied receiving any communication to this effect from any government agency so far.
Meanwhile, attempts to enquire from the Union Home Ministry whether the Centre will pay heed to Turkey’s request in this regard yielded no result. While some believe that Gulen’s thoughts will continue to spread, there are experts like Omair Anas of Indian Council for World Affairs who think otherwise. “Activities of the Gulen-affiliated groups in India have some support from religious sections of the Indian society. It will be too early to say whether, or not, they will use their welfare and educational activities for political purposes. Gulen was known mainly for his spiritual and educational activities before he clashed with the Turkey government. The chorus to ban pellet guns has grown stronger in Kashmir as a third person died of pellet injuries. A civilian who was working on an ATM machine in Srinagar was killed on Tuesday evening when security forces fired pellets from a close range on him. According to doctors, the deceased Riyaz Ahmad was having 300 pellets in his abdomen and died on the spot. Khurram Parvez, programme coordinator, Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), told the media that they have launched a campaign aimed at securing a global response so that the pellet guns are not used against civilians on the street protesters of Kashmir. Reacting to the latest death by pellet guns, Amnesty International has said that “pellet guns are inherently inaccurate and indiscriminate, and have no place in law enforcement.” Amnesty has asked the J&K government to immediately stop the use of pellet guns in policing protests. Meanwhile Kashmir Bar Association has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in J&K High Court, pleading complete ban on the use of pellet guns for crowd control.