Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Oct 8: Ismail Shafi, vice president of South Karnataka Salafi Movement, said in a press statement that the message he delivered in the form of advice to the community was twisted by vested interests before sharing it on social websites.

"I had warned that some young men known as 'Dammaj' who dress like ISIS cadres are moving among Salafi community that has been growing fast. I also told the people that these people often advice the youngsters here to leave their education and employment and immigrate to other countries. Recently, 22 people from Kerala had left for Yemen and they never came back," Shafi said.

"I expressed apprehension that our opponents might brand such people as ISIS soldiers. Therefore, I had advised parents to take care to see that the children do not join hands with this dangerous group of people. Someone twisted the contents of my address before posting it on social website with the tacit intention of infuriating people. This was wrongly projected by the media," he has claimed.

Shafi stressed that he had never said that ISIS has set foot in coastal Karnataka. "I gave advice as above to alert young men against becoming hardcore followers of religion by going against scriptures and in the interests of the society," he clarified. He said that people who heard his speech know what he meant.

He also explained that South Karnataka Salafi Movement and its parent organization, KNM, are patriotic organizations which do not allow religious fundamentalism that go against Quran and advices of the Prophet. He has requested people not to lend an ear to false rumours.