By TwoCircles.net News Desk,
New Delhi: Popular Front of India will launch a two-month long national campaign for reservation for Muslims in coming February and March 2010, with grand public meeting on 31st January in Pune in Maharashtra. A Parliament March will be held in New Delhi to mark the conclusion of the campaign.
A series of public awareness programs through pamphlets, posters, exhibitions and by holding street meetings, vehicle caravans, rallies, seminars and cultural shows will be held in various states as part of the campaign.
The decision to launch the nationwide campaign to demand Muslim reservation was taken recently in the National Executive Council meeting of PFI in Calicut, said K. M. Shareef, General Secretary, PFI. The meeting demanded the central and state governments to take immediate steps for providing reservation to all Muslims in education and government employment in the light of the recommendations of Ranganath Mishra Commission, Shareef said.
The report was tabled in the recently concluded winter session of the Parliament without any action taken statement from the Congress-led UPA Government.
The PFI has called upon all minority and backward class organizations to get united for the implementation of the Mishra Commission recommendations.
The reservation to minorities should be provided without affecting existing reservation quotas enjoyed by tribals, dalits and other backward communities, PFI said and warned against any attempts by communal, upper caste and vested interest outfits to divide the deprived sections.
Meanwhile, the National Executive Council of PFI has also expressed concern over the functioning of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
“The National Executive Council meeting observed that the functioning of the recently constituted National Investigation Agency is against the spirit of federalism which guarantees the autonomy and independence of administrative and police machinery of each state,” Shareef said.
Popular Front of India had earlier demanded withdrawal of the amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and opposed the move to constitute National Investigation Agency over and above the existing agencies when the proposal came from the central government. The amendments reinstated many provisions of the repealed black laws TADA and POTA.
The Council meeting also blamed the governments at the centre and states for exorbitant price hike of essential commodities and demanded strengthening public distribution system for all ration card holders and free distribution of essential food grains to those who are below poverty line.
PFI Chairman E. M. Abdul Rahiman presided over the meeting. General Secretary K.M. Shareef presented the report of activities. A. Saeed, O.M.A. Salam, Dr. Mehboob Shareef Awad, Adv. K.P. Muhammad Shareef, Prof. P. Koya, Sheik Muhammed Dahlan Baqavi, Moulana Usman Beig Rashadi, M. Muhammed Ismail and presidents and general secretaries of state units of PFI attended the meeting.