12 Tablighi Jamaat workers found positive in Punjab: Govt gives 24-hours deadline to report or face music

Coming down heavily on Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) participants who attended last month’s event in Delhi’s Nizamuddin and were reportedly not coming forward after their return to the state, the Punjab government on Tuesday gave them a 24-hour deadline to report to the nearest police station or face criminal prosecution.

A spokesperson of the state health department informed that all those who had attended the congregation organised by the Islamic preachers at Nizamuddin and were currently in Punjab should report and appear for COVID-19 screening within the next 24 hours.

The Punjab police have so far traced 445 participants out of the 467 Tablighi Jamaat workers who had reportedly come to the state from Nizamuddin, while 22 are yet to be tracked. Samples had been collected and tested for 350 of those traced, and of these, 12 had been found positive and 111 negative. The results for the remaining 227 were awaited, the spokesperson said.

Considering the sensitivity of the issue, the remaining TJ participants have been asked to come out for testing. The spokesperson cited reports that the Markaz of TJ had emerged as a hotspot of Covid-19 positive patients, with subsequent confirmation of many positive cases among TJ workers.

It may be recalled that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had already issued an advisory on March 28 and, in its continuation, reiterated its directions to all the Chief Secretaries and Advisors to Administrators of all States and Union Territories and DGPs in this regard on April 4.