Govt. says NTJ not registered with Muslim Religious Affairs Dept.

Friday, 21 June 2019 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Postal Services and Muslim Religious Affairs Minister Abdul Haleem yesterday told Parliament that no organisation or mosque under the name of National Thowheed Jamath (NTJ) is registered at the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs.

Rejecting former Western Province Governor Azath Salley’s charges, Haleem held that the mosques are registered as per the provisions of the Waqf Board.

“There is a system that is followed when registering a mosque. The Waqf Board comprises four reputed lawyers and three religious leaders. The Waqf Board considers the requests first and passes the recommendations on to the Department of Muslim Religious and Cultural Affairs. No Minister or any other person can influence the registration process. What Azath Salley submitted at the Select Committee is false. He has started to tarnish my image along with my staff’s, trying to establish a wrong impression about us among the Sinhala Buddhist community,” he said.

According to MP Haleem, he was not inclined to register NTJ. “I have an untainted political history spanning over 40 years. None of us, including my staff and family members, has engaged in any unlawful acts that support extremism and religious hate, which we reject strongly,” he held. (AH)