Govt blacklists 960 foreigners

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 2

The government has blacklisted 960 foreigners currently in India on tourist visas for their involvement in Tablighi Jamaat activities and also cancelled their exiting visas.

Take legal action, states told

The MHA has asked states/UTs to take legal action against such violators under relevant Sections of the Foreigners Act, 1946, and Disaster Management Act, 2005

In an order, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said: “The ministry has blacklisted 960 foreigners, present in India on tourist visas, for their involvement in Tablighi Jamaat activities.”

In an official statement, the MHA said it had directed the DGPs of all states/UTs and the Commissioner of Police, Delhi, to take necessary legal action against such violators on a priority basis under relevant sections of the Foreigners Act, 1946, and Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The action comes as hundreds of activists attending a Tablighi Jamaat’s congregation in south Delhi’s Nizamuddin had to be quarantined after several of them tested positive for Covid-19.

Earlier in the day, a senior MHA official said around 9,000 Tablighi Jamaat members and their primary contacts had been quarantined so far across the country after the government undertook “massive efforts” as part of steps to check the spread of Covid-19.

At a briefing, MHA Joint Secretary Punya Salila Srivastava said of around 2,000 such members in Delhi, 1,804 had been shifted to quarantine centres and 334 symptomatic individuals admitted to hospitals. At least 250 of them were foreigners.

“The MHA along with states/UTs launched a massive effort and around 9,000 Tablighi workers and primary contacts were identified and quarantined. Among these, 1,306 are foreigners,” she added.

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