Local Korean citizens oppose the mosque to be built in Daegu, South Korea !

Daegu (South Korea) – There is a dispute between the local citizens living in the Daehyeong-dong area and the immigrant Muslims over the mosque being built in the area. The construction of this mosque is going on from 2020. 60% of the construction work has been completed. Muslim students, studying at the nearby Kyungpook National University, have been using a house in Daehyeong-dong for offering namaz since 2014. Now a mosque is being built in this area. The construction of the mosque has added to the fears of the local South Koreans, with many vowing to desert the neighbourhood once the Islamic structure reaches completion.

1. According to the statistics of the year 2020, the population of immigrants in South Korea is now 3.3% of the total population and it is likely to increase exponentially.

2. Things began to change in 2020 when a group of 6 Muslims (from Pakistan and Bangladesh) purchased a plot in the same neighbourhood. Construction of a 20-meter-long mosque has been started here. Now more than 150 Muslims come here at a time for namaz.

3. Local Korean citizens say that they have been living there with Muslims in harmony for many years, but now the noise of namaz has increased as a mosque has been built here. Now the mosque is likely to increase the crowd here. We are not against their religion.

4. After the construction of the mosque started, the locals started complaining to the administration. Following that, the administration had stopped the construction work of the mosque. When the Muslims filed a petition in the Court against this, the Court ruled in their favour. After it was challenged, the Supreme Court also allowed the construction of the mosque.

5. Lee Hyung-oh, the leader of the anti-immigration network, said the rules on the hijab alone are enough reason that they should never set foot in our country. He added, ‘Although we may look exclusionist, but they have made us what we are’.

Pig heads and banners: Why South Koreans are objecting to the construction of a mosque by immigrant Muslims in Daeguhttps://t.co/RkFMqypoqC

— OpIndia.com (@OpIndia_com) November 12, 2022

Protests include cooking pork in open !

Despite the Court’s permission, local citizens are opposing the mosque. They are demanding the administration to relocate the mosque. Now they have started parking vehicles outside the entrance of the mosque and have also started keeping severed heads of pigs here. Along with this, cooking pork in the open to playing loud music at the time of namaz has started in these areas. Several banners have also propped up in the neighbourhood in protest of this mosque. ‘We strongly oppose the construction of an Islamic mosque’, read one poster, while another poster read, ‘a den of terrorists’.

Editorial Viewpoint

Would anyone ever give a thought – If the meaning of Islam is ‘Peace’, why do fanatical Muslims create unrest instead of peace in any country they live ?