THE Government yesterday banned all public religious crusades in the country for 30 days, the Minister for Home Affairs Dr. Emmanuel Nchimbi made an announcement when he confirmed the official apprehension of the Zanzibar based Islamic religious revival group leader Sheik Farid Ahamed known as ‘Uamusho’ who was reported to have disappeared in Zanzibar four days ago. Dr. Nchimbi told a press conference yesterday in Dar es Salaam that, the government has decided to ban religious crusades at this time around when it currently investigating the dubious religious skirmishes which have of recently emerged tarnishing the good image Tanzania had in the eyes of foreigners. The clashes resulted into setting fire to some churches in Dar es Salaam and in Zanzibar respectively. Earlier, Minister Nchimbi describing the circumstances which led to the apprehension of Sheikh Farid, and noted that, the police had mounted a secret man hurt since the time when he was announced to have disappeared in the Isles. However, he noted that, the police managed to spot him in his private hideout place at Old town in Zanzibar, and that the police is holding him for interrogation to establish the reasons of his disappearance which ultimately caused religious clashes in the Isles. Dr. Nchimbi who was briefing the state of the country’s emergency, confirmed the apprehension of the Islamic leader who was proclaimed to have got lost in a mysterious circumstances an aspect that caused tension among the Muslims believers in Zanzibar who speculated that, the government was behind his abduction. He also noted that, the police will give the report after its investigations and people will be informed to be aware of the facts that led to his disappearance and why he had disappeared and for what reasons. Dr. Nchimbi was talking in the wake of what had happened in Dar es Salaam on Friday whereby the police force in the region successfully managed to suppress Muslim fundamentalists who staged an illegal demonstration in the city of Dar es Salaam protesting against the detention of Muslim cleric Sheikh Issa Ponda who is currently in remand prison pending a case of conspiracy charged against him by Kisutu’s Resident Magistrate court in Dar es Salaam on Thursday.
Tanzania's Home Affairs Minister Dr. Emmanuel Nchimbi stressing a point to journalists (not seen in the picture) during a press conference in Dar es Salaam.
Following the religious clashes which have of recently emerged in Dar es Salaam for the last four days, Dr. Nchimbi said that, the government has reiterated its need to continue fighting against the crusaders at any cost, and added that there would not be further tolerance of any religious groups who want to take the law in their hands without let it take its own course. “The government will never tolerate the habit of some few individuals with a common religious belief with intent to conspire a threat to other people, or use the opportunity to disrupt peace and harmony which have been dominating in the country since independence time 50 years down the lane” he said adding that, its our obligation to defend this golden bless, a foundation of which was laid down by past leaders. In view of this however, he has cautioned such religious groups to desist their habits immediately otherwise they would be continuing to confront the law enforcers at any cost and even if it could mean to meet tragic deaths rather than leaving the matter to spread nationwide and become inevitable. He had also assured that, the government will deal with the suspects who got into the hands of police during the fracas and promised that further investigations will be done in order to find out if there were any other some outside organizations which are behind the issue or not. Either he has thanked the media for the positive news reporting over the matter saying that, the role being played by some is good and urged them to keep it up, but has on the other way round blamed few media organs who puts on its front pages a splashing headlines that put many readers into confusion and noted that these signifies incitement of the matter which have no clarification. Following the ban by the government on public gathering while hearing of the religious prayers, Dr. Nchimbi has also cautioned people to be careful and urged Tanzanians not to engage themselves in any related religious discussions in public areas as these are likely to be a cause of misunderstandings among themselves. Giving an example of what has happened in other African countries such as Nigeria and or elsewhere, he said that Tanzanians will be making a fool of themselves if at this time around will allow such skirmishes to occur and see their brothers and sisters killing themselves without any help. Stressing a point as an example of what also happened in Europe over 800 years ago, there were some religious clashes which emerged and that had resulted into the indiscriminate killings of about 4 million people. But when Europeans saw the futility over the matter among themselves, resolved to stop the habit and are now doing their things without associating religious conflicts. He said and added. Giving an example in Sudan country which of recent has been faced with the same problem, about 2 million people have been killed without reasons just because of the religious clashes which have brought a great enmity among the people in their ethnic groups. “Now for Tanzanians, do we have a reason to wait until numerous deaths occur first so that we get time to solve the problem”? He queried in disgust while insisting that, the government would continue its fight up to the end to save the innocent lives of its citizens. Quoting some clauses in National Constitutions that talks about the freedom of beliefs for every citizens in the country, Dr. Nchimbi narrated that, “everyone in the country has the right to know their basic rights, and added that, one has no right to interfere with another person’s belief. Quoting various sections such as No. 19 clause (1), 13 clause (1) and 16 clause (1) respectively have given freedom of every individual in the country to believe spiritually in whatever is the right according to their belief, and that no one has the right to interfere and cause problems on one’s belief.
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