'Sufis have suffered the most due to terrorism'

Gujarat Minority Finance and Development Board chairman M.K. Chishti on Friday said it is the Sufis and Sufism that have suffered the most because of terrorism.

"We, the Sufis, have suffered the most due to terrorism. Our mazars, our khanqahs, the places that we hold close to our hearts and venerate, have been bombed. Our people have been killed," Chishti told IANS here.

Chishti, president of the Gujarat BJP minority cell, said that Sufis have traditionally remained away from politics but the need of the hour is to get Sufis on a political platform.

An executive member of the All India Ulama and Mashaikh Board (AIUMB) - which is organising an international Sufi conference here - was crucial in introducing Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the conference.

"I apprised the prime minister of this conference and he was very supportive. He has always been supportive of the Sufi school of thought. In fact, it was during the discussion with him that the idea to go international came up," he said.

How much the message of peace would melt the hearts of those spewing venom against Muslims? Chishti said that Muslims need not have any fear or insecurity in their minds.

"There is hatred in some hearts but there is harmony too. And our prime minister is very supportive of the thinking that promotes communal harmony and brotherhood," he said.

The four-day Sufi conference has seen participation from more than a dozen countries, including the US, Canada, United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey, Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and Bangladesh, apart from India.