Muslim organisation launches signature campaign against religious extremism

Aligarh: The Indian Muslims for Progress And Reforms (IMPAR) has launched a worldwide signature campaign against what it called the looming threat posed by right wing politics, geopolitical interests and pernicious exploitation of the social media by religious extremists.

IMPAR, a newly constituted organisation of prominent Indian Muslims from different walks of life, also underlined the grave threat posed by the rise of terrorism and religious extremism.

IMPAR president M J Khan, an alumnus of Aligarh Muslim University, said the organisation aims to collect signatures of a million people across the world and submit the document to the United Nations.

The campaign was launched digitally in five continents on Wednesday.

In a statement, IMPAR said it was significant that the movement for international peace and global understanding was launched from India which is home to the world’s most diverse religious communities.

India is the birth place of four of the greatest religions of the world and also has the second largest population of Muslims in the world, the statement said.

The statement said the answer to the global quest for peace lay in the teachings of Sufism which has its strongest roots in india.