Kirti Azad takes on Rahman Khan over Yasin Bhatkal's arrest

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kirti Azad on Friday criticized Minority Affairs Minister K. Rahman Khan over his recent remark that minorities believe that Indian Mujahideen (IM) did not exist.

"The Minority Affairs Minister K. Rahman Khan said that militant group Indian Mujahideen (IM) does not exist. So now when the National investigating Agency (NIA) and other intelligence agencies are boasting about the arrest of the top militant, Yasin Bhatkal who was the main member of the group, will he now resign from his post for saying so," he said.

According to reports, Rahman Khan had earlier last month said: "Unlike other organisations, the Muslim community is not buying its existence in the country... As far as the IM is concerned, nobody knows what it is, where it was formed, how it was formed and who runs it." Asked if he was denying the existence of the outfit, Khan said he was neither denying nor questioning anything, but pointed out that "the community has that feeling".

He also said there were some "misguided" youths in every section of society, and drew parallels with the Bajrang Dal.

A Delhi Court on Friday sent Indian Mujahideen (IM) co-founder Yasin Bhatkal to the custody of National Investigation Agency (NIA) for 12 days.

Bhatkal, who was arrested from the Indo-Nepal border earlier on Wednesday night, was produced before the Patiala House Court here soon after being brought to the national capital in a special plane.