After meeting with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley at the Diplomatic Centre in St Anns on Wednesday, members of Muslim organisations walked away with a sense of relief as Rowley continued assurances that they were not being targeted by the government.
Among the leaders invited to attend the meeting, leader of the Jamaat al Muslimeen Imam Yasin Abu Bakr, said he was cautiously optimistic that the discussion would yield positive results and commended the PM for hosting the meeting.
Speaking with reporters outside the Centre shortly after 8.30 pm, Bakr said he was generally pleased with the assurances by the Prime Minister. Citing the detention of 17 men in a suspected plot to assassinate former PM Kamla Persad-Bissessar, Bakr said that he felt the government responded appropriately by hosting the meeting and apologising to the Muslim community.
“I must congratulate the Prime Minister because the last regime locked up 17 Muslims with absolutely no information at all, with charges they were planning to assassinate the former PM. The rudiments of common courtesy would dictate that she call some kind of meeting like this and aplogise, but nothing like that happened and there was not as much outpouring as there is now.”
Photo: Imam Yasin Abu Bakr comes out of a shuttle provided by the Office of the Prime Minister on Wednesday night after a meeting between Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Muslim leaders at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.