By Mumtaz Alam Falahi, TwoCircles.net,
New Delhi: While demanding the implementation of Sachar Committee recommendations, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) has urged the government to conduct a national study on the status of the Muslim women in India on the scale of Sachar Committee study.
During its daylong annual convention held on November 27 in New Delhi, BMMA has demanded immediate implementation of the 33% reservation for women in Assembly and Parliament.
“We express solidarity with Arzal, Ajlaf, ST and SC Muslims in their struggle for social justice. We demand positive affirmation for them at par with other backward communities” said the group.
Singling out religious hardliners, the group said: “We demand legal action against all pronouncements such as fatwas, diktats, farmans by the communal elements and extra-constitutional forces.” Going a step ahead, the group has demanded a ban on “all religious right wing organizations indulging in acts of terrorism in the country.”
Hundreds of women from across the country attended its annual convention which featured as speakers Dr Sydea Hamid, Dr Tahir Mahmood, Sadia Dehlavi and Mohini Giri.
Participants seemed happy with their association with the Muslim women’s group BMMA. “Since we joined Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan we learned a lot about Islam, about our rights in Islam and Indian laws. We did not know about laws related to women’s security and education,” Naghma Nadaf, social activist from Karnataka, told TwoCircles.net.
Any special problems Muslim women in Karnataka are facing? “They are facing the same problems that women in other states are facing.
Noor Jahan, a social activist, has come from Gujarat. On problems Muslim women are facing in Gujarat, she said: “Main problem is education. Muslim women are not given enough opportunities for education. They are not allowed to go out.” She said she is attending the programme to know how other women activists attached with Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan in different states are working.
Have Muslim women in Gujarat come out of the fear of Gujarat pogrom 2002? “After that riot several organizations came up. They included Aman Samudaye, Niswan and Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan. They instilled confidence in Muslim women. Its result is that the Muslim women who remained inside are now coming out of their home. Women of those families whose male members were arrested under POTA, also came out for their rights,” Noor Jahan said.
Akhtari Begum, an activist from Patna, says that educational backwardness is the major problem that Muslim women in Bihar are facing. She expressed concern over the fact that Muslim dominated areas lack proper educational facilities from the government.
“Muslim women’s health in the state is not good. They know little about their rights and laws,” Akhtari Begum said.