By TwoCircles.net reporter
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh): A delegation of Muslim religious scholars and intellectuals met the senior representatives of the Uttar Pradesh government, Satish Chander Sharma and minister for public works Nasimuddin Siddiqui at Lal Bahadur Shashtri Bhawan yesterday.
The delegation had an open discussion on social, political, educational and religious affairs of Muslims. The delegation demanded establishment of one more Muslim university in order to remove educational backwardness of Muslims. They also proposed establishing a separate technical institution for Muslim girls.
Other demands of the delegation included sacking of Lucknow jailer, who disrespected the Holy Quran and made derogatory remarks against Islam, punishment to the culprits of Dhanideeh incident in Shrawasti district, allowing construction of mosques in government colonies and solving the problems of minority educational institutions.
They urged the government to appoint Muslim teachers for education and training of Muslim girls living in government shelters and to contact reputed Muslim institutions like All India Muslim Personal Law Board for their marriage.
The delegation also demanded appointment of Muslim officers on higher civil and police posts like DM, SSP and SP. The trend of implicating innocent Muslims on the pretext of terrorism should be ended and legal action should be taken against the lawyers who have announced not to plead for Muslim terror suspects, the delegation demanded.
Other demands included solution of the problems of Muallim-e-Urdu, making Urdu language a compulsory subject from class I till high school, approving madrasa degrees for government jobs, disbursement of scholarships among madrasa students and granting Rs 2 crore per annum to Wakf Board.
The delegation held a meeting before their meeting with government representatives. The meeting was addressed by Naib Imam of Lucknow Idgah Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali. Those who were present in the meeting included rector Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulema, Maulana Sayeedur Rahman Azmi Nadvi, Maulana Abdul Ali Farooqui, Dr. Ghayasuddin Nadvi, Qari Mushtaq Ahmad, Mohammad Ahmad Khan Adeeb.