Press Release

Indian Media Publish Slander and Lies against Hizb ut Tahrir

Several Indian media outlets (including Indiatoday, Times of India, International Business Times and the Indian Express) published articles and news reports on the 20th January 2016 that alleged that Hizb ut Tahrir is planning terror attacks in India.

The published news claimed that the said alleged alerts about Hizb ut Tahrir had been issued by the Indian Intelligence agency which subsequently declared a nation wide alert.

News broadcasts and articles contained a number of inaccuracies and misleading statements which we wish to clarify.

Hizb ut Tahrir is a global Islamic political party that seeks to re-establish the righteous Khilafah "Caliphate" (caliphate) upon the method of the Prophethood in the Muslim world through intellectual and political discourse. Hizb ut Tahrir was established in 1953 in Jerusalem, and now works in over 40 countries in the West, Middle East, Africa and Asia. Despite provocation, censorship, extra judicial arrests and torturesuffered by its Shabaab sometimes leading to martyrdom, it is well documented that there has not been a single incident where the Hizb has wavered from its non-violent political path.

With regard to the alleged link between Hizb ut Tahrir and the Indian Mujahideen, Lashkar e Taiba and Jaish E Mohammad, we categorically deny that there has ever between any association between these organisations, either within India or in any other country. Similarly the statement included in the Times of India report: “The alert hints at growing strength of HuT's armed wing called Harakat ul-Muhojirin fi Britaniya that trains its cadres in chemical, bacteriological, and biological warfare.” Comments like these do not have any shred of fact or truth to it. Rather they are totally absurd and blatant lies. We never had, and never will have a so-called “armed wing”, and we do not have any link with the Harakat ul-Muhojirin fi Britaniya.

 These statements by the media agencies are the pure outcome of hallucination of a sick mind, or a criminal mind.

We reiterate, in over 60 years since the Hizb’s formation, we have abided by our political non-violent approach. To us this is not a matter of expediency, but rather an obligation since we strictly follow the methodology of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him).

We demand from the concerned media outlets to respect its professional integrity and credibility by issuing an immediate correction, an open apology and publishing this press release. As well we reserve our full legal rights in taking all legal measures against any media outlet that insist on defaming the party in publishing lies and wrong information concerning us. At the same time we express our willingness to answer their enquiry.

Osman Bakhach

Director of the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir