Muslims in South Africa could be incorrectly suspected of being involved terrorism due to comments by intelligence officials that the country has become a haven for terrorists, Muslim organisations warned on Wednesday.
The Media Review Network and the Muslim Judicial Council said they were ”deeply perturbed” at the remarks by National Intelligence Coordinating Committee (Nicoc) coordinator Barry Gilder, in which he implied that South Africa is a ”haven for terrorists”.
Nicoc is an inter-agency body.
”We are outraged by these accusations, which lack evidence and have the potential to raise a cloud of suspicion over the entire Muslim community of South Africa,” the organisations said in statement.
They said such hints could unjustifiably set up Muslim organisations for scrutiny and harassment by law-enforcement agencies.
On Tuesday, Gilder told the South African Press Association that agents were watching certain individuals and organisations, including foreign visitors, who might be involved in international terrorism.
”We are concerned that terrorists are spending time here … It is something we are taking very seriously,” Gilder said.
He said South Africa was not a staging area for terrorism, but rather a place where those involved come to lay low and that the country was not likely to be a terrorist target.
The organisations said such comments were liable to ”fuel Islamophobia”, especially because Gilder said most people on the watch list originated from Pakistan, Somalia, Bangladesh and Jordan.
The organisations called on the government to refrain from ”resorting to such wild allegations”, which they said unfairly blemished the integrity of Muslims and their organisations. — Sapa