By Faisal Fareed, TwoCircles.net,
Lucknow: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) in its 21st annual convention held at Nadwatul Uloom unianimously re-elected Maulana Rabey Hasan Nadwi as president in Lucknow on Saturday.
The board also directly elected Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha, K Rehman Khan and Justice (retd.) Shah Mohammad Qadri as its founder members on Saturday.
Earlier the outgoing Vice-President (V-P) and shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq conducted the election proceedings and declared Maulana Rabey Hasan as president as no other name was proposed. It is his third term as president of the AIMPLB.
Briefing the results, Zafaryab Jilani stated that K Rehman Khan was associated with board as special invitee while Justice (retd.) Qadri who had retired from Supreme Court was presently engaged in translation of board’s book in english. “Due to their association and service for the board they have been elected as founder member,” he said.
There are 102 founder members of the board which includes members who founded the board in April 1972. Vacancies arise due to resignation or death of any founder member. There were eight such vacancies in founder member category. The board besides the founder member also has 149 including 30 females term members elected for a tenure of three years. A 50 member Executive Committee (EC) is also elected which is headed by the president.
The board also increased the number of women representation besides including members from unrepresented areas of the country. Earlier there were only one female member in EC while their strength has been increased to five including Begum Naseem Iqtedar Ali, Dr Rukhsana Lari, Dr Safia Naseem (all Lucknow), Mrs Noorjahan Shakeel (Kolkata) and Dr Asma Zehra (Hyderabad). The notable male EC members include Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission, Kamal Farooqui, SQR Ilyas, Khalid Saifullah (hyderbad), Atequr Rehman (Mumbai) who is an important cleric of Bareillvi sect.
For the first time the board also gave representation to unrepresented areas as Ghulam Hussain MP from Ladakh, Maulana Bilal fro Meghalaya and Syed Ahmed from Tripura. It also has increased its representation from Kashmir by inducting three more members. Maulana Ateequr Rehman MLA has been accomodated from Assam. “The board now has a pan India reflection with representation from all sects and regions,” said SQR Ilyas.
Meanwhile, the Social Reforms Committee of the board also met in the morning at Nadwatul Uloom. The committee took up issues as expensive marriages, rising trend of dowry and other social issues. The board will again meet in the evening where the general secretary Maulana Wali Rahmani will present his report.
Refusing to comment on any issue, board’s spokesperson, SQR Ilyas remarked: “All the issues as terrorism, shariah, social reforms etc. will be discussed during next sitting on Sunday. The board will come out with its resolution on Sunday evening,” he said.
Salim Qasmi, Syed Fakhruddin Ashraf and Kaka Saeed Ahmad Umri were elected as vice-presidents, Syed Nizamuddin continues as general secretary, Mohd Wali Rahmani and Abdus Sattar Yousuf Sheikh are secretaries and Mohd Abdur Rahim Qureshi is assistant general secretary.
[Photo by Milligazette]