MANGALURU: The Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District Muslim Central Committee on Monday criticized the district administration for not inviting the organization for the peace meeting chaired by district minister B Ramanath Rai.The district administration had held a peace meeting on July 13 after 48 days of prohibitory orders under Section 144 of IPC in the district (barring Mangaluru city police commissionerate) following incidents of communal clashes and murders. Though ministers Rai, U T Khader, MLAs K Abhaychandra Jain, B A Mohiuddin Bava and leaders from various organisations took part in the meet and expressed their opinion, major political parties including BJP and JD(S) boycotted the meet. Muslim Central Committee leaders on Monday sought a clarification from deputy commissioner K G Jagadeesha as to why they were not invited for the peace meeting.Committee president K S Mohammed Masood told reporters that the Muslim Central Committee founded in 1968 has around 800 Jamaats under its jurisdiction. "Previously, we used to get invitation for all such meetings, but we don't know why we were not invited this time. Officials in the district administration know the significance of our organization that has taken several initiatives to preserve harmony in the region.Former DG and IGP Ajai Kumar Singh also had appreciated the initiatives taken by the committee in a letter in 2010 for resolving a communal issue through dialogues with VHP and Bajranga Dal. It is unfortunate that the district administration has ignored our organization when they held peace meeting recently," Masood said.He said that the committee is an apolitical organization that is represented by leaders from all political parties.Further, talking about recent incidents of murders, Masood said police should arrest all the accused in the murder of RSS worker Sharath Madivala and SDPI member Ashraf Kalaai immediately. "Arrest them and deport them from the region," he added.

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