The All India Shia Hussaini Fund (AISHF), a 40-year-old organisation of Shi'ite Muslims, has announced a reward of Rs5 crore for anyone who brings the severed head of Islamic State (IS) chief Abu Bakr Baghdadi.
The outfit has also announced a similar reward for those who kill four other terrorists – al Qaeda chief al Jawahiri, Jamaat-u-Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Sayeed, Taliban chief Mullah Umar, and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM) chief Azhar Masood.
The AISHF is putting up posters all over the city and in several places across the country announcing the bounty, especially in Jammu and Kashmir and Hyderabad, which have the largest and second largest populations of Shia Muslims in India. India has about six crore Shias of which about three lakh live in Lucknow, which ranks third in terms of Shia population.
"These terrorists should die," says AISHF secretary general Hasan Mehndi, with a hint of sombre finality. "They are perpetually committing crimes against humanity, killing hundreds and thousands of innocent Shia Muslims, Hindus, Sikhs and Christians from Pakistan to Syria," he bursts out in anger. Al Qaeda, he said, had recently announced a separate unit for mass destruction in India, he said.
The IS, populated and headed by Sunni Muslims, has been killing countless Shi'ites in Iraq and Syria over the past few months in their campaign to overthrow the government and capture power in Iraq. Similarly, other terror outfits like the JuD, HuM and the Taliban have also been mercilessly slaying non-Sunni Muslims and non-Muslims.
Asked how the AISHF would collect such a huge amount, Mehndi said, "The money would be collected within 24 hours of the named terrorist being killed. Even if every Shia in the country donates Rs 10, we will have a huge amount."
The AISHF, he said, has been collecting funds for charitable purposes and for the welfare of the Shia community in India. The outfit has also been organizing anti-terror demonstrations, seminars and other events promoting peace and harmony, he added.
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