NEW DELHI: A prominent Muslim cleric on Friday urged members of the community to stay away from the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP)-led protests against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in the national capital, warning that Muslims should not allow themselves to be “used” for political purposes.The CJP, a youth pressure group, has called for protests on Saturday, demanding Kumar’s resignation over alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and over a media report claiming a “rift” between Kumar and the two Election Commissioners, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.Umer Ahmed Ilyasi, chief imam of the All India Imam Organisation, appealed to Muslims, particularly mosque imams, to stay away from the proposed protests, alleging that certain forces were attempting to “disrupt peace in the country.”“I am making an appeal and request to all the Muslims and especially to the Imams of the mosques. You know what the situation is going on in the country at present. Some anti-national forces want to spoil the peace in our country,” Ilyasi said in a video message.

He alleged that a “big conspiracy” was underway to disturb the atmosphere in the country.“I want to tell all the Muslims, those political parties who have called to join the protest on 10th and the way they have called, these protests are being carried out against the government. I want to tell the Muslims that we are not something to be used. Till date, we Muslims have only been used,” Ilyasi added.He further stressed that the prevailing circumstances called for restraint, urging the community not to make decisions driven by emotions.Ilyasi’s remarks came as the Delhi Police imposed sweeping restrictions ahead of the planned protests, with police personnel also visiting mosques to appeal to worshippers to refrain from participating in the demonstrations.In July, a CJP-led sit-in in Delhi had forced then-Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan to resign over the NEET paper leak issue.