By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter
New Delhi: Students Islamic Organisation (SIO) of India, the student wing of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, started its three-day long All India Conference at its New Delhi office on Friday. The event, based on the theme “Reclaiming Dignity, Designing Future”, was started after Nahas Mala, national president of SIO of India, hoisted the flag.
On this occasion, Wael Al-Batterkhi, Minister-Counsellor, Embassy of the State of Palestine was the chief guest of the session. Al-Batterkhi began his speech recalling the support of Muslim community and Indian government at the most critical times for the State of Palestine. Al-Batterkhi also criticised Israel and US declaration of Aqsa as Israel’s capital for violating international laws. The illegal colonial campaign led by Israel and US together has been restricting the economy and freedom of Palestinian people.
“There has been immense pressure on us to leave our homeland, but we will not leave. Palestinian people consider Trump’s declaration as illegal, illegitimate, and of no legal validity which will not change the fact that Quds is an integral part of Palestine. It has started escalating tensions in the debate. Israel considers itself above the international law and humanitarian values, continuing to occupy Palestine at demographical and physical levels. It’s a modern form of ethnic cleansing. UN reports underlines that there has been attempts to make Gaza uninhabitable,” He further said.
Al-Batterkhi appealed to Indian society and Muslim community around the globe to continue their support for Palestinian cause and to save Al-Quds.
Khaleeq Ahmed Khan, general secretary of the organisation, chaired the inaugural session. Introducing the theme of the conference, he urged that everyone in the community, especially the students, stand up to the attacks on the dignity of the community from the different corners of the country.
The National Amir of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Syed Jalaluddin Umari delivered speech emphasising the importance of strengthening brotherhood among the community to face the novel challenges in the campuses in particular and in the society in general. “SIO has paved a unique path in defining studentship,” he said.
Syed Sadathullah Hussaini, the vice-president, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said, “we should strive for reclaiming the dignity of Muslims, Dalits, Adivasis, women and everyone whose dignity is under threat, unravelling theme of the conference.”
‘The notion of ‘future’ in our theme does not confine to worldly life, but extends to life hereafter,” he further said adding that “we could represent our country in huge numbers in near future if we are honest in our mission.” Hussaini put some light on the functioning of SIO and said that SIO is a pro-active organisation, not a reactive one.
The last speaker of the inaugural session was Nahas Mala, who began the speech raising slogans in support of Palestine and Al-Quds. In his address, Mala said, “Historically, it was Muslims who would come up to engage and actively participate in all the issues pertaining to the society. It is time we reclaim our dignity which is under threat, drawing inspiration from our glorious past.”
“Retrospection and strengthening our relationship with holy Quran would inspire us in our way forward,” he observed. He also opined that community shouldn’t be in any delusion that appeasing and compromising would make our path easier. He said, “We should continue our mission we have been on since 35 years before without striding away from the straight path, reaching out to all nook and corner of the country.”
Moreover, on the first day of the national conference, Heba Ahmad, Ansar Abubakar, Fasna Mian, Umar Khalid, Sreerag Poickadan, Rahul Sonpimple, PN Salih, Mateen Ashraf, and Anian Mehdi Qasmi took part in the following sessions presided by Nahas Mala.