MHA blacklists 960 foreign Tablighi Jamaat activists, cancels their visas

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 2

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

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 has also directed the Director Generals of Police (DGPs) of all concerned States/UTs and Commissioner of Police (CP), Delhi to take necessary legal action against all such violators, on priority basis, under relevant sections of the Foreigners Act, 1946 and Disaster Management Act, 2005.

The MHA action comes after the Tablighi Jamaat’s congregation at south Delhi’s Nizamuddin, which has emerged into one of the coronavirus hotspots in the country.

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

Punya Salila Srivastava, a joint secretary in the Union Home Ministry, told reporters during a daily briefing that out of about 2,000 such Tablighi Jamaat members in Delhi, 1,804 have been shifted to quarantine centres while 334 symptomatic persons admitted to hospitals.

She said among the ones in Delhi, 250 are foreigners, adding: “The MHA along with states and UTs launched a massive effort and about 9,000 Tablighi Jammat workers and their primary contacts were identified and quarantined. Among these, 1,306 people are foreigners."

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