‘Muslims must come together, form own outfit’

LUCKNOW:Muslim clerics on Monday urged the community to sink internal differences and come together on one platform if they wished to progress and flourish like other communities. The call was given at an Ulema Conference organised by the Peace Party, whose founder, Mohammed Ayub, a surgeon by profession, floated his outfit for this specific purpose in 2008.

The party fought on 208 seats in 2012 assembly elections, won four and garnered 2.35 per cent of the total votes polled. But soon thereafter, elected legislators left the party due to internal differences.

The party is making a renewed attempt to find a foothold in Eastern UP. The common refrain of the speakers at the conference: “Come elections and Muslims are asked by various so-called secular parties to strengthen them and defeat communal forces. But no sooner than the elections get over, these secular parties disappear and Muslims are left to fend for themselves.”