By TwoCircles.net staff reporter
New Delhi : Leaders of the various minorities in India, participating in a symposium on the proposed bill on the status of minorities in India held at India International Centre here Wednesday, averred that it would be quite improper to declare the status of minorities on the state, district, and rural levels. They also pledged to fight their battle to ensure the rights of minorities.
In his inaugural address, Advocate Supreme Court MP Raju said, "It would not be in the interest of the country to declare the status of minorities on state levels. It will harm communal amity in the country."
Referring to Article 30 of the Constitution of India, former Member of Parliament and president All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat Syed Shahabuddin strongly pleaded for the rights of minorities, and said that in 1992 the rights of minorities were made clear in very express terms. He was presiding over the symposium.
On the status of minorities in the various states, he said the Sikhs in Punjab, Muslims in Jammu & Kashmir, Christians in Sikkim, Nagaland and Mezoram are not on the list of minorities while the Hindus in all these States are a minority community.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind assistant secretary-general Mujtaba Farooq delivered the welcome address while Indian National League president Muhammad Sulaiman, Jamiat Ahle Hadis-e-Hind general secretary Maulana Asghar Ali Imam Mehdi Salfi, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind spokesperson Abdul Hameed Noamani, Supreme Court Advocate Mushtaque Ahmed, Naved Hamid, Umaiduzzaman Kairanvi, JS Walia, AS Duwa, Prof. Amreet Singh, Madhu Chandra and Dr Fatima Shahnaz participated in the deliberations.