By Zaidul Haque, TwoCircles.net,
Kolkata: Sikhs and Muslims in Kolkata have joined hands to appeal for communal harmony in Western Uttar Pradesh district of Saharanpur. They appealed to the Akhilesh Yadav led UP government to act on rumour mongers and are planning a visit of joint delegates to the district.
Condemning the communal clash in Sahranpur between Sikhs and Muslims before Eid over land dispute, the organizers have decided to send a joint team of 20 members from both communities to talk to the locals and spread the message of peace and communal harmony.
Speaker Satnam Singh Ahluwalia
The violent clashes between Sikhs and Muslims in Saharanpur had left 3 dead, 33 injured and more than 80 shops were gutted and several cars were damaged.
This harmony meeting was held on August 2 in Kolkata on the initiative of the Chairman of West Bengal State Minority Commission Intaj Ali Shah at the Meeting Hall of Commission headquarters in Kolkata. Several important members from both Muslims and Sikh communities in the state were present in this peace meeting. The delegates expressed their apprehensions on an attempt to polarize the society for political benefits, later in a joint press conference.
Chairman of State Minority Commission Intaj Ali Shah said that the ‘unity in diversity’ is the basic fabric of our country and hence it pains our hearts to see what happened in Sahranpur.
Imam of Nakhoda Mosque Maulana Muhammad Shafique, who was present in the meeting to appealed for peace.
Audience
General Secretary of Barabazar Gurudwara Sikh Sangat Tejender Singh Ahluwaliah pointed out how different communities are living in harmony in Kolkata and urged everyone to emulate it. He said that we should not let the society getting divided on communal lines.
Deputy Mayor of Kolkata Corporation Farzana Alam, Bishop Raju of Chirstian community, MP Nadimul Haque, General Secretary of Behala Gurudwara Satnam Singh Ahluwalia, Secretary of Milli Ittehad Parishad Abdul Aziz, Shia leader Athar Abbas Rizwi and many other state personalities were also present and addressed the media.