Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Thowheeth Jamath (TNTJ) requested media houses not to link the group with the Sri Lankan radical group, National Thowheeth Jamath (NTJ), which is allegedly behind the serial explosions on Easter Sunday that claimed 359 lives and injured more than 600, in the island nation. Sri Lankan Health Minister Rajitha Senaratne recently informed the media that the NTJ, with help from an international agency, was behind the suicide bombings targeting churches and hotels on Easter Sunday.
Speaking to reporters in Chennai, TNTJ Deputy General Secretary Abdul Rahman requested media houses not to link the two groups. At a time when the Sri Lankan authorities are conducting investigations and are yet to determine the true perpetrators of this deadly attack, a section of Indian media are making allegations linking the TNTJ with the NTJ. Apart from the name which contains the words 'Thowheeth Jamath', there are no links. Thowheeth in Arabic means unified principles. Many organisations in Tamil Nadu have this in their name, he explained.
Rahman said, “If those bearing Islamic names are the ones who have perpetrated the bomb blasts, then we announce that they have no relation to Islam. A Muslim will not take a life because neither the Koran nor Mohammed Nabi have preached this. We don't call them Christian, Muslim or Hindu terrorists, regardless of where they attack (church, temple, etc). They are beyond all religions and unfit to live as humans. They are human animals. That's what we would like to let the world know.”
