They demand reinstatement of the elected President in Egypt.
By TCN News,
New Delhi: The All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations, held a press conference on Monday at the organisation’s headquarters in New Delhi to express the Indian Muslim community’s reaction to the unfolding events in Egypt since 30 June this year.
Speakers said the 180-million-strong Indian Muslim community is one on condemning the military coup in Egypt and calling for the immediate restoration of the legitimate and elected President of Egypt.
Amir (President) of Jamaat-e Islami Hind, Maulana Jalaluddin Umari
AIMMM President Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan said that mobocracy has been used to unseat an elected President and his government in Egypt. Egypt’s so-called liberals, remnants of the Mubarak regime and the army in cahoots with the West, especially America, and Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and UAE, have nullified a legitimate government which is a bad omen for democracy in the region.
He said a ballot box result can be invalidated only by a ballot box result. The Egyptian army has now started wholesale massacres of the supporters of the ousted President to crush all opposition and this, without doubt, will push the country to a civil war on the lines of the neigbouring Algeria where too a popular mandate was nullified by the army in 1991 which resulted in a civil war which continues till date and has devoured close to two hundred thousand lives.
He said successive elections and a referendum during the last one year in Egypt, have proved that the Muslim Brotherhood enjoys the trust of the majority in Egypt and this is why we see millions of people still protesting in all big and small towns of Egypt since President Mursi was ousted on 3 July. He said any attempt to delegitimising the popular Muslim Brotherhood will only worsen the situation. Condemning the American, European and Gulf states’ policy of supporting a military coup, Dr Khan expressed his anguish that the Indian government has not taken a strong stand against the coup despite our clear policy of supporting democracy and human rights all over the world.
The Amir (President) of Jamaat-e Islami Hind, Maulana Jalaluddin Umari said that there is no solution for the Egyptian problem except by reinstating the elected President. He said the whole Indian Muslim community without any exception whatsoever supports President Mursi and demands his return to power without any delay.
Syed Shahabuddin, veteran community leader and former member of Parliament, said that with the exception of 1857, the British colonial rulers never even during the height of the freedom struggle commited such massacres as are being committed in Egypt these days. Jalianwala Bagh massacre, he said, was a dwarf compared to what is taking place now in Egypt. Yet, Jalianwala massacre became the turning point in the Indian struggle for freedom. He said army has ruled Pakistan for many years but even there it did not resort to such mass killings. He condemned the Indian government’s lukewarm expression of “regret” toward the events in Egypt. He said, I was sure that a new light would come out of Egypt under Mursi but that light has been snuffed out. He said India should place an embargo on Egypt, recall the Indian ambassador from Cairo and take the issue to the United Nations.
AIMMM President Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan making a point
Noted scholar Mufti Ataur Rahman Qasmi, chairman of the Shah Waliullah Institute, said we are pained especially by the stand of the Arab rulers towards the Mursi regime which was free from corruption and was working for the progress and emancipation of the whole region.
Welfare Party president Mujtaba Farooq supported the call for India to recall its ambassador from Egypt in order to effectively demonstrate its displeasure at what it taking place there. He further demanded that India should stop all transactions with the Egyptian military government.
Noted political scientist Dr Javed Jamil said that America, which destroyed so many countries after 9/11, has now changed its strategy and it now wants to destroy countries through fomenting civil wars. He said the US wants to push Muslims fight each other by raking up the Shia-Sunni issue. He said the most condemnable and alarming aspect of the Egyptian crisis is the stand taken by some Arab rulers. He said that the least India can do if it really believes in democracy is to recall the Indian ambassador from Cairo.
Earlier in the day, Muslim leaders visited the Egyptian embassy in Delhi with a view to convey the feelings of the Indian Muslim community to the ambassador and deliver to him a memorandum to be forwarded to the Egyptian interim government. They had earlier on 14 August requested for an appointment but when they did not receive any communication from the embassy, they intimated the ambassador this morning that a small delegation will come to the embassy to have a short meeting with him. However, upon reaching the embassy in Chanakyapuri, the ambassador as well other officials of the embassy refused to meet the delegation which was told over phone to leave the memorandum at the window on the outer gate of the embassy which they did. The text of the memorandum is reproduced below.
[Photos courtesy: milligazette.com]