As long as the US refused to apologise for the atrocities on Muslims in Palestine, Afghanistan and other parts of the world, there was no question of regretting the 9/11 violence, he stated.

The Shahi Imam was speaking at a function at Shoshtri Hall at Bhendi Bazar, where he released the inaugural issue of a Urdu weekly, Qaumi Jasarat Jadeed.

In a highly controversial speech, he also defended Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban. He said despite the extensive bombing of Afghanistan, the US could not kill Osama Bin Laden, who is believed to be the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.

"It is Allah's wish that Osama Bin Laden stays alive. The US cannot take away his life," he said amidst the chanting of the slogan Allah O Akbar (God is great).

The US also has been unable to crush the Taliban. There were more than 35,000 fighters in the Taliban and the US cannot hope to wipe them out. The Taliban had taken on the might of Russia and would stand up to the US also.

The Americans had also failed to eliminate maintenance Hussain. The continued attacks on US forces in Iraq, showed that the people of Iraq will not let the Americans lay their hands on their oil wealth, he said.

Coming down heavily on the Congress, Samajwadi Party and other "so-called secular organisations," the Shahi Imam said these parties had only used Muslims during elections and inflicted injustice on them after capturing power. The worst communal riots like the ones at Bhiwandi, Mumbai, Moradabad and Aligarh had taken place, when the Congress was in power in the states concerned.

V P Singh's policies resulted in the strengthening of the BJP, while Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav had no hesitation about joining hands with Kalyan Singh, who was a party to the demolition of Babri masjid in December, 1992, he noted.

He also targetted Shabana Azmi and other liberal Muslims.

The Shahi Imam said it was high time, the "25 crore Muslims of India realised their true potential and formed a political force. No party would dare ignore Muslims once they displayed their political strength," he noted.

"We are not for the division of the country. In fact, all the Muslims were committed to national unity and regarded Kashmir to be an integral part of India. But they were not willing to tolerate injustice anymore," he stated.

He appealed to Muslims to forget their caste-based identities like Ansaris, Quereshis etc and instead form a solid political force.

(Source: Times of India)