US wants to keep IS alive, says JIH chief

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH) chief Moulana Syed Jalaluddin Umri on Monday alleged that the US doesn't want to eliminate terror outfit IS and there is a big conspiracy behind it to tarnish the image of Islam across the world.

He said that if the US wants it can finish ISIS in five minutes but it does not want this so that it can continue occupation of Arab countries and its campaign against Islam.

Talking to reporters on the concluding day of JIH's national conclave here on Monday, he said it was impossible for an organization to occupy a huge land within two to three months of its emergence.

"Daesh (ISIS) is not a big force that can't be finished off by the US because countries like Libya, Iraq and Afghanistan were destroyed in no time. The US is saying it can't finish IS and calling other western countries to join it. A big tamasha is being shown to the world," he said.

The JIH chief pointed out that the same US armed Taliban and used them to defeat then Soviet Union and later destroyed Afghanistan by claiming that Osama Bin Laden carried out 9/11 attacks.

Stating that the US, Russia and others were not sincere in restoring normalcy in Syria, Moulana Umri said impartial elections should be held under the aegis of UN or any other international agency.

He said the excesses being committed by Daesh, torture and killings of innocents have nothing to do with Islam. "It is surprising that the same group is killing Muslims and their representatives. It has not attacked a single Israeli. One should think which forces are behind it," he said.

asked about some Muslim youth from India joining IS, the JIH leader said they should understand that they will neither succeed in this world nor in the hereafter.

"They are being told that if they die there, they will directly go to Jannat (paradise). Will a person go to Jannat by committing excesses?

"If this is correct, you find such fools everywhere in the world. It is the responsibility of parents and all of us to dissuade them and to tell them why are they going to hell."

Asked about the ban imposed by Saudi Arabia on some books of Jamaat-e-Islami founder Moulana Abul A'la Maududi, he said the details were not available.

"At one time they (Saudi Arabia) considered him as the best spokesman of Islam and gave him an award. If their opinion has changed now, it is not surprising. It is known to everyone that Arab countries don't have their own opinion. Some other forces dictate this," he added.