Press Release
Clarification Letter Re: Article Published in The Times of India on the 27th September 2012 entitled: "Indian Mujahideen has links with banned Islamic group: Investigations reveal"

Dear Sir,

I am writing in response to an article published in the The Times of India that outlined alleged links between the Indian Mujahideen and Hizb-ut-Tahrir. The article contained a number of inaccuracies and misleading statements which I wish to clarify.

Hizb-ut Tahrir is a global Islamic political party that seeks to re-establish the caliphate in the Muslim world through non-violent intellectual and political discourse. Hizb-ut-Tahrir is a well-known Islamic political party which was established in 1953 in Palestine, and now works in over 40 countries in the West, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Despite provocation, censorship, extra judicial arrests and torture, it is well documented that there has not been a single incident where the party has wavered from its non-violent path.

The title of the article labels Hizb-ut-Tahrir as a ‘banned' organization which is highly misleading to the reader. Hizb-ut-Tahrir operates freely within countries such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, France, the US, Canada, Jordan, Australia, Turkey, and post-revolution Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. Where Hizb-ut-Tahrir has faced a ban, the decisions have been politically motivated, extra-judicial and primarily designed to placate a special interest group such as in Germany, or to maintain the iron grip of a brutal dictatorial regime. In each case, no evidence, which would stand in an independent court of law was presented,. Therefore, we would urge caution in the use of politically charged labels when describing our organization.

With regard to the alleged link between Hizb-ut-Tahrir and the Indian Mujahideen, we categorically deny that there has ever between any association between the two organisations, either within India or any other country. Hizb-ut-Tahrir's aims, literature and political views are fully transparent and widely available on the internet and libraries across the world. No organization can be held responsible for the possession by third-parties of literature "documents" available in the public domain and we expect Hizb-ut-Tahrir to be held to this same standard. Therefore, it is highly disappointing that unfounded allegations of an association between Hizb-ut-Tahrir and the Indian Mujahideen was made on this tenuous basis.

We wish to remind the editorial team at the Times of India of their responsibility of maintaining credible independent objective reporting. We are confident that the paper places the utmost importance on the accuracy and integrity of its reporting, and will carefully consider these points mentioned above so as to obviate the need on our part to resort to legal proceedings in the future.

Kind Regards,

Osman Bakhach
Director of Central Media Office of Hizb-ut Tahrir