A BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration) student from Faridabad has revealed the modus operandi of the Islamic conversion mafia that targets non-Muslim youths and brainwashes them to adopt Islam.

Student reveals modus operandi

The student hailing from Haryana’s Faridabad informed the police that he was in touch with the Shahnawaz Khan alias Baddo gang for the past three years. “Baddo had created a Discord group named Shameless in which he regularly shared videos of the Pakistani channel Youth Club. They shared inflammatory videos of Pakistani Islamic Preacher Maulana Tariq Jameel and radical Islamist preacher Zakir Naik”, said the student. The student further informed the police that they were forced to watch those videos.

DCP City Nipun Agarwal told the media they quizzed the Faridabad student in relation to the Islamic conversion mafia. Baddo had tried to convert this student to Islam too with the help of another student from Ghaziabad. However, the Faridabad student refused to embrace Islam after his mother raised a strong objection.

The Faridabad BBA student showed the police all videos shared by Khan in the group. He further revealed that he was quite close to his mother since his father passed away and shared everything with her. He told her about Khan’s attempts to instigate non-Muslims to embrace Islam. When she objected, he refused to convert.

According to the student’s statement, several other members of the gang are also involved in the Shameless group. They instructed minors who had converted to Islam in the manner of performing namaz. Furthermore, they brainwashed these converted minors by claiming that Islam was better than other religions. They motivated them to observe Roza by narrating its ‘benefits’. The student told the police that he was influenced by the gang during the lockdown and showed them the entire group chat.

Maulana Tariq Jameel is a Pakistani preacher, Deobandi scholar and Alam-e-Din (religious leader). He belongs to Talamba city of Punjab’s Khanewal and is a close aide of Mian Chunu. Tariq Jameel is a member of Tablighi Jamaat Islami Prachar Sabha and runs a seminary in Pakistan’s Faisalabad. Many singers, actors and sportspersons have converted to Islam because of his propaganda.

Zakir Naik hails from Maharashtra’s Thane and obtained his MBBS degree from Mumbai. Naik is identified as a radical Islamic preacher whose NGO is banned by the Bharatiya government. He is accused of making inflammatory speeches, money laundering and promoting terrorism. He was declared wanted by Bharat’s ED (Enforcement Directorate) and NIA (National Investigation Agency) following which he fled to Malaysia in 2017.

DCP Nipun Agarwal stated that the information received from the student will be made a part of the case investigation. Additionally, the people about whom the student has given information will also be verified. During the interrogation of the student, concrete evidence has been found against the gang that is involved in Islamic conversion. The student has also shown videos of Tariq Jameel and Zakir Naik.

Islamic conversion mafia

It had earlier come to light that a game similar to PUBG was being used allegedly brainwashing non-Muslim youth and motivating them to convert to Islam. The police had launched a manhunt for prime accused Baddo alias Shahnawaz Khan who is at large. The Ghaziabad Police, Lucknow Police and several other agencies are looking for Khan who targeted minor children to convert through an online gaming application, in many places, including Maharashtra.

The game Fortnite was launched by a US-based gaming company in 2017. The game is said to have PUBG-like features. The user would be on a virtual island and provided with arms and weapons to kill opponents in order to finish/win the game.

The first step involves user registration. Once one starts playing the game, a group of players is also formed and everyone plays the game together. However, the user will not be able to know if fellow players have a verified or fake ID.

In the course of playing the game, the users interact with one another as well, and that is how the process of brainwashing takes its initial shape. “You need to read some verses and perform Namaz if you want to win the game. The Almighty is very powerful,” the users are told.

According to the police, users who play in a group are usually trapped. If anyone loses the game, he is made to read some verses from the Quran, and they are made to win the game…just to solidify their belief in the Quran, the police said.

The police said that Muslim youths chat with Hindu youth by using a Hindu-sounding username, and the Hindu youth are gradually motivated to adopt Islamic rituals. Once the Hindu youth are befriended, it becomes easier to brainwash them, the police said. Finally, the users are provided videos of banned Islamic preacher Zakir Naik to further brainwash them.

(With IANS inputs)

(Featured Image Source: Navodaya Times)