Jamiat Gujarat unit forms panel to protect cows, avoid beef

The Gujarat unit of JUH, which owes allegiance to the Arshad Madani faction at national level, has taken the initiative beginning from Bharuch and Surat districts. Its vice-president, Abdul Qayyum Haque, told The Indian Express on Tuesday that the objective was also to “break the vicious circle” around the Muslims who are caught between anti-cow slaughter activists, who take law into their hands on the one hand and the state police, especially around Bakra Eid.

The decision came in a meeting in Bharuch, coinciding with the holy Paryushan period of the Jains. Even as most local bodies close slaughter houses during this eight-day period of penance out of respect for the Jain community, Surat Municipal Corporation this year, for the first time, has added a complete ban on sale of non-vegetarian food to the practice. Jains in Palitana are already demanding that the town be declared free of non-vegetarianism.

Haque says that the committee will propose that the “formation of cow protection committees wherever they are formed must have 30 per cent Muslims, 30 per cent tribals and the remaining 40 per cent from other communities”.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad has been actively campaigning against cow slaughter and to bring butchers involved in it to book.

A 15-member body was formed on Tuesday at Bharuch to convince the community to avoid  trouble by staying away from beef consumption because there are several alternatives available, he added.

“So far, we have toured 62 villages and administered pledges to community people to go by our advice to keep respect religious sentiments of the majority community,” Haque said.