By TCN News,
New Delhi: The Central Committee (Markazi Majlis) of the All India Muslim Majlis-e Musahwarat, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, met here on Saturday, 20 December, 2014. This was the second and last meeting of the Central Committee this year.
The meeting deliberated on community, national and international issues. Members discussed Mushawarat’s response to the post-election political scenario in the country as well as the steps being taken to rejuvenate Mushawarat units in a number of states. Members expressed satisfaction that Mushawarat units in UP, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Delhi State and Gujarat have been rejuvenated and are now functioning well to face the challenges of the new political climate.
The meeting expressed concern over rising communalism in the country in the wake of the triumph of BJP in the last general elections and warned that the activities of Hindutva activists on various fronts “run against our Constitution and laws and will end up pulling down the secular edifice of our polity and will lead to a civil war situation for which the present government and its head alone will be responsible.”
In another resolution, the meeting appealed to all peace-loving Indians, especially Muslims, to work harder for communal harmony and amity and, in particular, to form peace and amity committees in all areas to foster brotherhood and to foil the designs of the hatemongers.”
The meeting condemned all kinds of terrorism and paid homage to the victims of the recent attack on a Peshawar school and cautioned states, Muslim and non-Muslim, “to desist from using terror as state policy and to stop supporting dubious organisations in order to serve their plans to plunder the resources of other nations. Every case of state-supported terrorism has only boomeranged on its supporters.”
Another resolution said that both the J&K state and Central governments “let down the victims of the worst floods in Kashmir’s recent history” and asked both the governments to show seriousness and sense of accountability in dealing with this huge task. AIMMM appealed to the Union government to allow foreign relief agencies to enter the Valley to provide the much-needed rehabilitation and re-construction help.
The meeting also remembered important personalities of the Muslim community which departed for their heavenly abode since the last meeting. They included Abdur Rahman Antulay, veteran Congress leader who died on 2 December and Syed Muhammad Ali Kazmi, former Advocate General of UP and former Chairman of UP Minorities Commission who died on 25 November.
The meeting was held under the chairmanship of the national President Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan. It was attended by Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari, President of Jamaat-e Islami Hind, Janab Syed Shahabuddin, Janab Mohammad Jafar, Hafiz Rashid Ahmad Choudhury (Vice Presidents, AIMMM), Prof. Mohammad Sulaiman, Mufti Ataur Rahman Qasmi, Mr. Masoom Moradabi, Dr Qasim Rasool Ilyas (General Secretaries, AIMMM), Janab Nusrat Ali, Janab Kamal Faruqi, Prof. Shakil Samdani, Mr. Abdul Rashid Agwan, Janab Mohammad Ahmad, Janab Shafi Madani, Engineer Mohammad Salim, Janab Rashid Ahmad Khan, IAS (Retd.), Janab S.M.Y.Nadeem, Janab Abdur Rahman Kondu(J&K), Janab Iqbal Beg Mirza (Gujarat), Janab Mujtaba Farooq, Janab Abdul Khaliq, Dr Anwarul Islam Khan and Dr. Syed Ahmad Khan.
Following is the full text of the resolutions passed by the Central Committee of AIMMM in today’s meeting:
RESOLUTIONS
Communalism
AIMMM is pained to see that leaders of RSS, BJP and allied organisations are actively trying to divide and polarise the Indian society by unleashing their divisive Hindutva agenda. Low key communal violence is taking place all over the country on a daily basis, the old “Shudhi movement” has been re-branded as “ghar wapsi,” saffronisation of history is taking place in right earnest, issues hitherto unthought of like calling for expulsion of “non-Indian” minorities from India, turning India into a Hindu country by the year 2021, etc., are being raised ad nauseum. All this is taking place while the Central government and its head are maintaining studied silence. AIMMM believes that this is a clever division of labour where the BJP government will talk of “development” while its allies run riot to implement the age-old plans of RSS and Hindu Maha Sabha. AIMMM warns that these activities by Hindutva activists run against our Constitution and laws and will end up pulling down the secular edifice of our polity and will lead to a civil war situation for which the present government and its head alone will be responsible.
Uniform Civil Code
Supporters of the new government at the Centre are once again raking up the contentious Uniform Civil Code issue. Let the proponents of the UCC first agree on the contours of the proposed code and come up with a draft before any debate is attempted. And before doing that, let there be a Uniform Financial Code treating all Indians equally in matters of income tax and abolishing the unconstitutional and illegal abomination known as “Hindu Undivided Family” (HUF) by which millions of Hindu families all over the country evade taxes to the tune of trillions of rupees every single year. HUF should be abolished altogether or the scheme is extended to all Indian families without religious discrimination.
Communal harmony
Reiterating its message since its very inception, AIMMM appeals to all peace-loving Indians, especially Muslims, to work harder for communal harmony and amity and, in particular, to form peace and amity committees in all areas to foster brotherhood and to foil the designs of the hatemongers. Regular meetings, dharnas, marches, seminars, conferences and yatras should be organised by involving all segments of society to promote communal harmony and amity.
Terrorism
While AIMMM condemns all kinds of terrorism, it wishes to register that certain incidents like the Burdwan blast of last October and the alleged joining of ISIS ranks by a few Indian Muslim youth, are being used to revive a situation which prevailed during the previous NDA rule when Muslim youth were being arrested on mere suspicion and kept in jails for years. This is still continuing despite the fact that hundreds of such youth have now been honourably acquitted after spending many years behind bars. This policy will only serve the opposite by pushing Muslim youth to the path of militancy, which must not be the aim of any law-abiding and sincere government.
Nanavati Commission
The AIMMM takes note of the Nanavati-Shah-Mehta Commission which twelve years after its formation and after costing the public exchequer crores of rupees, presented its report on 19 November on the expected lines by exonerating the then chief minister who was the main planner of the Gujarat 2002 riots and later protected the rioters. The Commission included Judge Akshay Mehta whose exploits include granting bail to the mass-murderer Babu Bajrangi. The 2000-page report was a sheer waste of public money and will never wash the crimes of the 2002 riot planners and executioners. Justice remains to be done to the victims of that ghastly pogrom which polarized Gujarat on communal lines and made possible BJP’s electoral win in subsequent elections.
Kashmir floods
AIMMM registers its pain that both state and Central governments let down the victims of the worst floods in Kashmir’s recent history. Government is largely absent from the post-flood rehabilitation, rebuilding and repairing of lakhs of houses, shops and commercial establishments. AIMMM exhorts both the state and Central governments to show seriousness and sense of accountability in dealing with this huge task which people cannot undertake on their own. AIMMM also appeals to the Union government to allow foreign relief agencies to enter the Valley to provide the much-needed rehabilitation and re-construction help.
J&K elections
J&K state, still reeling from a long spell of militancy, is a delicate place where BJP has seen it fit to introduce its divisive policies, pitting regions and communities against each other and using money and deceit to win enough seats in the state assembly with a view to extend its Hindutva agenda to this Muslim-majority state. AIMMM is relieved that the Kashmiri voters understood the game and came out in large numbers to frustrate the BJP/RSS agenda. AIMMM cautions the BJP leadership to desist from its childish plays and to save the country from a fresh bout of militancy in that delicate state.
Darul Musannefin
AIMMM pays tribute to the Darul Musannifin Shibli Academy of Azamgarh which has just held its centenary celebrations after a century-long literary and research activity. AIMMM lauds Allama Shibli Nomani and his lieutenants, like Maulana Syed Sulaiman Nadwi, who sacrificed and laid the foundations of a research institution to serve the needs of the Muslim community in the Subcontinent. The institution has dutifully taken up the challenges thrown up by historical revisionism and attacks on Islam and Muslims.
Peshawar Terrorist attack
The AIMMM is pained by the level of terrorist carnage some so-called “mujahids” in Pakistan stooped to by attacking a school and killing about 145 persons, mostly young children. AIMMM reiterates that misguided organisations are only misusing the pristine name of Islam to unleash a terrorist agenda with the help of the enemies of Islam. AIMMM also cautions states, Muslim and non-Muslim, to desist from using terror as state policy and to stop supporting dubious organisations in order to serve their plans to plunder the resources of other nations. Every case of state-supported terrorism has only boomeranged on its supporters.
OBITUARIES
NAFE’Y QIDWAI, senior Urdu journalist, died in Lucknow on 14 October at the age of about 57 years; SIBTE AHMAD QAMAR RIZVI JAAESI, noted litterateur, died on 18 October in Aligarh; KHWAJA ABDUL GHANI GONI, NCP leader of Jammu, former minister, speaker of J&K Assembly, MP and India’s ambassador to Sudan, died on 16 September in Government Medical College; Prof. GHULAM AZAM of Bangladesh, who died at the age of 92 years on 23 October while serving a politically motivated conviction for alleged “war crimes” in East Pakistan; SAMI KHATEEB, former chairman of Mumbai’s famous educational institution Anjuman-e Islam, a prominent industrialist and chairman of a pharmaceutical company, died of heart attack on 18 November in Mumbai at the age of 80 years; ABDUR RAHMAN ANTULAY, veteran Congress leader who was the first-ever Muslim chief minister of Maharashtra and subsequently a Union minster, died of kidney failure in Mumbai on 2 December at the age of 85 years; SYED MUHAMMAD ALI KAZMI, former Advocate General of UP and former Chairman of UP Minorities Commission died in a road accident near Pratapgarh on 25 November at the age of around 60; SYED MUHAMMAD UMAR KALIMI HASANI HUSAINI, noted religious scholar, exegesist who helped in setting up many mosques, madrasas and other educational institutions named after him died in Chennai on 24 November, and TAHIR ABBAS, noted Urdu journalist who died on 19 December.