New rules of distributing Hajj tours could be behind Tatarstan attacks - Russian lawmaker
MOSCOW. July 19 (Interfax) - The chairman of the Russian State Duma's Public and Religious Organizations Committee Yaroslav Nilov said the attack on the Tatarstan mufti and the killing of his deputy could have been due to a new rule of distributing Hajj tours.
"All theories should be checked, but the incident could have been connected in a way with the protest sentiment and the re-drawing of the market of Hajj services," Nilov, a lawmaker of the Liberal-Democratic Party faction, told Interfax.
"Tatarstan's Muslim public made a statement a few days ago which conveys their protest against the mufti's position, who said now that he has put the sale of tours to Mecca and Medina under his personal control, prices for the tours would go down. But this did not happen," he said.
"This angered those who wanted to perform the Hajj," he added.
"A collective letter was reportedly written and sent to the mufti, which demanded that he honor his promises and blamed him for usurping the market of Hajj services," Nilov said.
The attack may have been carried out by a dogmatist, or someone who wanted to shake the situation by manipulating the public sentiment, he said, adding that this was his personal opinion and that the official conclusion will be announced by investigators.
"Anyway, such an attitude to clerics is unacceptable in the civilized world. There are laws in force and law enforcement services in place. Such terror attacks and murders are appalling," Nilov said.
