By TwoCircles.net news desk,
New Delhi: The Working Committee (Majlis-e Amla) of All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat met here on 14 November, under the chairmanship of the national president Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan, and discussed various national issues including minority character of Jamia Millia Islamia, closure of AMU and government’s move to use Army against Naxals, besides international issues.
The AIMMM Working Committee debated a number of organisational, milli and national issues. The President apprised members about the efforts to regain the minority character of the Jamia Millia Islamia and prevent the implementation of the OBC quota in this institution which will complicate the campaign for the minority status. The efforts included meetings with the Jamia Millia VC and the HRD Minister as well as representations sent to the President, Prime Minister, Chairman, UGC, Chairperson, UPA and Minority Affairs Minister.
On Jamia Millia’s minority status and OBC quota, it said that while the Jamia Millia fraternity with the help of the Muslim community has been fighting its battle to regain the minority character of this institution founded by Muslims way back in 1920, and while the case is pending with the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, the UGC has found it prudent to send one ultimatum after another to the Jamia asking it to implement the 27% OBC quota with the threat that Jamia’s new grants will be stopped if it failed to implement this quota from the next academic year whose prospectus has to be published by late December this year. The AIMMM asked all Muslim and civil society organisations to stand up against this injustice and struggle to give Jamia its due under the Constitution and laws of India.
On the current crisis in AMU, the AIMMM called upon the university authorities to reopen the university as soon as possible, and called upon the student community not to forget that peace and tranquility on the campus are needed for their own educational advancement and emergence of their alma mater as a centre of excellence. As a long term measure, the AIMMM asked the district and state authorities to deal firmly with the goonda and mafia elements in and around the university who hold the university to ransom for their vested interests and do not allow any VC to function.
On the issue of Naxalism, the AIMMM condemned violence for political reasons. It also condemned government plans to use Army and air force to hit the Maoist insurgents. The AIMMM believes that the problem should be resolved through dialogue and not by military means. It calls upon the government to use only the police and para-military forces to combat this menace taking extra care not to hurt adivasis and local inhabitants and to start a genuine plan to develop the neglected areas where Naxalism finds supporters due to backwardness and negligence. The AIMMM further demanded the government to give the advasis a fair share in the revenues generated by the exploitation of non-renewable resources on their ancestral lands.
The AIMMM condemned the attacks by media and political outfits on Darul Uloom Deoband’s old fatwa on Vande Matram and its recent support by Jamiat Ulama-e Hind at its 30th conference at Deoband on 3 Nov. 09. The resolution said that the Muslim stand towards this song has been clear since at least 1937 and noted that the new controversy was in fact raked up by Hindutva communal elements in Saharanpur and Deoband who held demonstrations, raised offensive slogans and burned Darul Uloom effigies on various occasions weeks before the Jamiat Ulama-e Hind conference. The AIMMM holds Hindutva elements guilty of of hooliganism and calls upon the government to deal with it as proper under law.
The meeting also discussed the deteriorating communal atmosphere in some rural areas of U.P. and Haryana where the majority community is not allowing Muslims to build mosques. A fact-finding mission of AIMMM has visited Kalalati village of Ambala district in Haryana on 28 August 2009. The President also apprised the members of the financial aid offered to to Aila victims in West Bengal and other organisational activities like meetings, talks and dharnas. It also discussed the Central Madrasa Board issue and decided to ask the government to pay more attention to provide quality education through schools in Muslim localities.
On J&K, the AIMMM welcomed the Prime Minister’s recent announcements of seeking a dialogue with Kashmiri separatists, and hoped that these promises will not remain mere press announcements but actual invitations will also be sent to all organisations concerned and that sincere talks will be held with them at the earliest so that some solution is reached way before the next elections when the government will not be able to negotiate anything.
On encounter killings, the AIMMM registered its satisfaction that a magisterial enquiry has exonerated Ishrat Jahan and her colleagues killed in an encounter by Gujarat police in June 2004. It called for similar enquiries into other incidents like Khawaja Yunus, Sadik Jamal and Sohrabuddin etc also in order to book all those responsible for murder of innocents for political and other reasons. The AIMMM expressed its firm opinion that since most police encounters are fake, all must be probed by high level judicial enquiry commissions and that the government and judiciary cannot hide behind the illogical claim that such an enquiry will affect police morale.
The AIMMM condemned the recent attacks by police on Muslim prisoners held in so-called terrorism cases like Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail and Jaipur jail and said that physical attacks on prisoners are illegal in all cases as prisoners too enjoy human and civil rights which should be respected by all, especially by the protectors of law.
The AIMMM said that it is unable to understand the reasons behind the government’s slackness in taking action against proven Hindutva terror outfits like VHP, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Santan Sanstha and Abhinav Bhaarat etc and against places where Hindutva terrorists have routinely received arms training like Bhonsla Military School and Akanksha Resort as exposed by Maharashtra ATS chief late Hemant Karkare. The AIMMM resolution went on to say that the government’s soft policy towards Hindutva terrorists only encourages them to continue their terrorist activities as seen most recently at Margao in Goa. The resolution added that it is now clear that many of Hindutva terrorist acts have been unjustly attributed by security agencies to Indian Muslims and that many Muslim youths arrested unjustly are still languishing in jails as a result. AIMMM demanded that the central and state governments should review such cases at the earliest so that innocents behind bars may come out and resume their normal life and careers.
The AIMMM also welcomed the publication by Islamic Fiqh Academy (India) of the Urdu translation of the mammoth 45-volume Fiqhi Encyclopaedia prepared by the Kuwaiti Awqaf Ministry which is one of most commendable and Herculean tasks undertaken in recent times in the field of Islamic law and fiqh. The AIMMM recalled that the last such attempt was undertaken under emperor Aurangzeb in Delhi and is known as Fatawa Hindiya or Fatawa Alamgiriya which is still used as a reference to this day. The Urdu translation of the Fiqhi Encyclopaedia will allow Urdu-knowing scholars to take a more sober view of the differences in fiqhi matters.
The Working Committee meeting was attended by the following members and special invitees: Maulana Ejaz Ahmed Aslam, Janab Mohammed Jafar, Mr. Syed Shahabuddin, Prof. S.M.Yahya, Mr. Mohammed Sulaiman, Prof. Shafiq Ahmed Khan Nadwi, Prof. Habibur Rahman, Dr. Neyaz Rasool Siddiqi, Mr. S.M.Y. Nadeem, Mr. Ahmed Rashid Sherwani, Mrs. Nusrat Sherwani, Prof.Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman and Dr. Obaid Iqbal Asim.
The meeting offered condolences and prayers for community figures who have departed in recent months, especially Prof Iqbal Ansari, noted human rights activist, died at Aligarh on 13 Oct. 09; Maulana Akhlaq Husain Qasmi, famous scholar and mufassir, died at Delhi on 13 Oct 09; Egr Abdus Samad, president of TN unit on 17 Oct 09; condoled and letters sent to TN unit and his family; Sheema Rizvi, professor of Urdu in Lucknow University and a minister in the BJP government of UP who also held for some time the post of the chairperson of former head of UP Urdu Academy, died in Lucknow on 19 August; Maulana Habeeb Raihan Nadwi of Bhopal, who died in his hometown on 8 August; Veteran Kerala Journalist K Koya who died on 30 July; Maulana Jameel Ilyasi, president of All India Imams Org who died in Delhi on 18 August; Dr Syed Mehmood Naqvi, doyen of modern geochemistry, died on 4 Sept 09; Mahmood Hashmi, Urdu writer, died in Delhi on 22 Sept. 09; and Dr Muqtada Hasan Azhari , rector of Jamia Salfia, Banares, died on 30 Oct. 09.