MMA Meeting, 8 August 2009

RESOLUTIONS:

Obituaries

IMAM SYED ABDULLAH BUKHARI, the 12^th “Shahi Imam” of Delhi’s historic Jamia Masjid, died at 87 on 8 July 09 after a long illness. He was buried in the ancestral graveyard in Old Delhi in the evening of same day. He was named as the Naib Shahi Imam in 1946, a year before India’s independence. Belonging to a family originally hailing from Central Asia, the Bukharis were invited to Delhi by Mughal emperors to preside over the Jama Masjid. Abdullah Bukhari, born in Rajasthan and educated in Delhi, became the 12th Shahi Imam on 8 July 1973 and continued in this position until October 2000 when his elder son Ahmad succeeded him. Rich tributes were paid to him by milli, national and international leaders. AIMMM too issued a statement of condolence.

MAULANA ABU MAHFOOZUL KARIM MA'SOOMI, distinguished religious scholar, critic, researcher, exegesist, teacher and author of a number of religious books, died on 17 June at Kolkata after protracted illness. He was a respected Urdu, Arabic and Persian author and scholar. He was the principal of the Madrasa Aalia (now a university) and also held the position of the Chairman of West Bengal Urdu Academy and West Bengal Waqf Board for some time. He was honoured with Presidential Award in 1990 as a great Arabic scholar.

PROF. ABU BAKAR, former chairman of Delhi State Minorities Commission, died on 22 June in Delhi after a prolonged illness.

DR WAQARUL HASAN SIDDIQUI, who had recently retired as Officer on Special Duty at Rampur's Raza Library, died at Lucknow on 18 June. Earlier, he was Director of the Archaeological Survey of India and had done his PhD in Medival Archaeology. After retiring from the ASI in 1993 he joined Rampur's Raza Library as OSD. He was a poet, compiler and author of a number of books. His anthology titled Aks-e Hasti (Reflections of Life) was published in 2007.

PANAKKAD SYED MOHAMMEDALI SHIHAB THANGAL, president of the  Kerala Muslim League for 34 long years, died on 1 August at Malappuram at the age of 73. He had taken over the leadership of the state Muslim League after his father P.M.S.A. Pookoya Thangal’s death in 1975. He was a highly respected scholar who had completed his education at Al Azhar, Cairo. He was buried next day at the Panakkad Juma Masjid burial ground  with full state honours. State and national leaders paid him rich tributes.

DR SYED ABDUL MANNAN of Hyderabad who was president of Anjuman Taraqqi-e Urdu A.P. for 30 years and a former physician of the Nizam and died on 17 July.

Political resolutions:

NHRC on Batla House

AIMMM condemns the National Human Rights Commission’s clean chit to the Delhi police over Batla House “encounter” of September last year and notes that the report relies totally on the police version which is the accused party in the case.  The NHRC totally ignored to contact the kins of the victims and residents of the Batla House area and did not deign even to look at the written submissions made to it in this regard. The AIMMM advises the parties which filed the case in the Delhi High Court to go back to the court and point out that the NHRC has failed in its duty and therefore an order should be issued for a fair probe in the matter. At the same time, the AIMMM reiterates that only a high level judicial enquiry will satisfy the kins of the alleged “terrorists” and the Muslim community which believes that Batla House was a fake encounter which allowed the police to start a reign of terror in the Okhla region of the capital as well as Azamgarh from where the alleged “terrorists” hailed.

Reservation for Muslims

The AIMMM registers its dismay at the very first announcement by the new Minister of Minority Affairs that he does not support reservation for Muslims which is against his party’s election manifesto and flies in the face of the recommendations of the Mishra Commission. The AIMMM requests the UPA government to table the Mishra Commission report at the earliest in Parliament and implement its recommendations.

Waqf

The AIMMM welcomes the recent government steps to streamline the maintenance and utilisation of Waqf properties which should be liberated from the clutches of usurpers including government departments and from rent control in order to play their role in the progress of the Muslim community. The AIMMM requests the government to offer waqf lands for the establishment of educational institutions by the Muslim community.

The AIMMM, while appreciating the government’s move to establish regional campuses of the AMU in Muslim-dominated areas, also appreciates the central government’s plan to establish three more minority universities on waqf land in Mysore, Kishanganj and Ajmer. The AIMMM hopes that the legal formalities for the same will be completed in the near future to establish these new universities.

AMU

The AIMMM notes that the inquiry ordered against the Vice Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University in respect of certain allegations levelled by seemingly vested interest individuals and groups was done in a haste, especially that it came in the wake of an unprecedented demand to submit the university’s reply in record time after getting it approved by the executive council some of whose members were complainants in the first place.

Liberhan Commission

The AIMMM is relieved that Liberhan Commission has finally presented its report but cannot help express its unease over the undue delay in placing it in the public domain and implementing its recommendations. The AIMMM exhorts the Union government to table the report in parliament at the earliest with an action taken report as the government has already assured Parliament.

Right to Education

The AIMMM welcomes the Right to Education bill recently passed by Parliament as it will pave the way for universal education of our children. Like NREGS and RTI, it is a historic step by the UPA government. But the AIMMM cautions that the new policy should not bolster the two-tier educational system which has already evolved in which ordinary people’s children get inferior education in government schools while children of the rich get better education in private schools. The government educational system must be strengthened and streamlined and wide-ranging vocational training options should be made available for graduates of schools instead of pushing them to colleges and universities to do worthless courses which have no job markets. The AIMMM also asks the HRD ministry to do away with rigid norms for minority educational institutions and to facilitate their easy recognition and affiliation in order to encourage education of minority children. Without such relaxation, the Right of Education will be meaningless for the Muslim minority. The AIMMM further stresses that education in proper madrasas should also be allowed to continue without hindrance.

Hindutva terror dilution

The AIMMM is alarmed by the dilution of the cases against the ringleaders of Hindutva terrorism allowing them to get bail while thousands of Muslim youths are rotting for years in various states’ jails without trial. The AIMMM demands the removal of the current Maharashtra ATS chief from his post as he is responsible for the dilution of the case and he is known to have maintained good relations with some of the accused in the Hindutva terror network. The AIMMM is also pained that while security agencies keep kidnapping and arresting Muslim youths on mere suspicion, they ignore the Bajrang Dal and Durga Vahini training camps, one of which was recently held right here in the capital of the country. The AIMMM also registers its indignation that the same security forces which swing into action against Muslim youths on mere suspicion are blind to the activities of Abhinav Bharat which is the umbrella body of the Hindutva terror network. Likewise, no action has been taken against the Bhonsla Military Academy where hundreds of alleged Hindutva terrorists were trained. The government has failed to make an account of the thousands of terrorists who were trained in such centre just as it has failed to track the 350 or so serving and retired military officers who imparted such training.

Multiplication of “Muslim” parties

The AIMMM while welcoming the phenomenon of Muslim-led secular parties in some parts of the country, is alarmed by the mushrooming of such outfits especially prior to elections which nullifies Muslim electoral power in minority pockets and indirectly serves communal forces as seen during the last general elections which led to a sharp drop in the number of Muslim MPs in Parliament. Muslim-led parties must not fight each other and each party should concentrate only on constituencies where it has fair chance to win.

9/11 and Pradhan report

The AIMMM registers its displeasure that the Maharashtra government has seen it fit to sit tight on the report of the two-member Pradhan Committee which probed the 9/11 terrorist attack against Mumbai last November. The report, which seemingly found a scapegoat in the shape of Mumbai’s (Muslim) police commissioner, should be made public in order to allow its scrutiny and start a public debate about the issues involved and to push for the much needed police reforms.

Legalisation of homosexuality

The AIMMM condemns the Delhi high court’s unfortunate verdict to decriminalise same sex consensual relationships in private which are punishable under IPC Section 377 which is still part of the statute. This goes against the social, religious and moral values of the overwhelming majority of the Indian people and will only serve to encourage abhorrent immoral behaviour in our society. The AIMMM cautions the central government that it should not rush to amend the said section of the IPC. Instead, it should ascertain the views of all sections of the Indian society before taking any step aping the decadent West.

Gujarat

The AIMMM condemns the Modi government’s appointment of a commission to profile Muslim communities in the state in the name of studying minority settlement and movement since Independence. It is a dangerous move which will allow the communal forces ruling Gujarat to use the data to persecute Muslims. The VHP has already used data culled from municipal and other government records to target Muslim lives and properties during the 2002 pogrom. The AIMMM also condemns the Gujarat government’s audacity to reintroduce in the state assembly the controversial GUJCOC bill which has been returned by the President of India due to fears that the state government will misuse it against a certain section of society which is already suffering due to active persecution by the communal administration in that state. The AIMMM also notes that the Gujarat state government has refused to cooperate with the Union government in the implementation of central schemes for minorities. The AIMMM feels that all these events since the pogrom of 2002 offer sufficient ground to impose central rule in Gujarat and rid its people from a communal and biased administration which has failed to show remorse or correct its course.

Communal riots

The AIMMM notes that the annual report of the Union Home Ministry for 2008-09 mentions that 943 communal incidents took place in the country during 2008, in which 167 persons were killed and 2,354 persons were injured. This is a sharp rise compared to the preceding year when 761 incidents took place in which 99 persons were killed and 2,227 persons were injured. A total of 656 of these incidents were aimed at the Muslim community which resulted in the death of 123 persons and injuries to 2,272. The report says that the majority of these incidents took place in UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP and Karnataka. These figures show that while the security and intelligence forces have focused on terrorism-related issues often of bogus nature the communal powers had a field day against minorities in the country. The AIMMM feels that the central government, especially the home ministry, is negligent in tackling the communal menace which is now threatening even southern states especially Karnataka where the BJP is engaged in a Gujarat-like experiment which has resulted in widespread violence against minorities and arrest of Muslim youths. Rabid communal organisations like Bajrang Dal and Ram Sene are running amok in the state while the state BJP has recommended a ban on the Popular Front of India. The AIMMM notes that the BJP has failed to learn its lessons and still sticks to its hardcore Hindutva agenda which seeks to divide and polarise the people of India on religious lines.

Maslaki tensions

The AIMMM finds it very unfortunate that Muslims belonging to various schools of thought are issuing statements against each other which sometimes leads to clashes and even attempts to dislodge the other group from mosques. This runs counter to the basic teachings of Islam that all believers are brothers and that the Muslim Ummah is one. The Muslim community will not progress and prosper if it continued to be bogged down by such abhorrent behaviour which is unfortunately encouraged by some myopic clerics. The AIMMM is also alarmed at the increasing tensions on non-issues between various biradaris which often end up in violence. Such despicable behaviour does not augur well for the community.

Demolition of mosque in Delhi

The AIMMM condemns the demolition of the 140-year-old Dibyawali mosque in the capital’s Andheria Mor area and the reported revocation of the plot of land allotted for a mosque in Rohini due to protests by communal elements. The AIMMM reiterates that such policies only increase the alienation of the Muslim community and push it away from the mainstream and therefore the authorities should be extra careful not to hurt the religious sensibilities of minority communities. The AIMMM also demands that namaz should be allowed in all so-called protected mosques which are under the care of the ASI as a ban on namaz is against the very purpose of such places of worship. Some of these mosques were taken over by the British during the freedom struggle while others were occupied by refugees from Pakistan at the time of Partition in 1947 and though the refugees were later evacuated from these places of worship, the same were later never returned back to their basic function. Time has come to correct this historical injustice. The AIMMM wishes to remind the government of the agreement which was concluded on orders of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi on 1 March 1984 between  AIMMM led by late Sulaiman Seth and the government led by the then Home Minister Narasimha Rao which concluded that Muslims will be allowed to offer prayers in all protected mosques. The government must honour this agreement.

Shopian rape and murder case

The AIMMM demands exemplary punishment to the criminals who raped and murdered two women in Shopian last May. At the same time the AIMMM demands the repeal of the draconian AFPSA which allows the armed forces to violate Kashmiris’ civil and human rights with impunity. The AIMMM also demands the immediate withdrawal of the army and allied forces from the towns and villages of the Kashmir Valley. The AIMMM also deplores the insane use of Public Safety Act against political opponents, particularly its immediate reimposition in cases quashed by courts of law which shows the lawlessness enjoyed by the state administration.

Intolerance in Europe

The AIMMM has noted with pain the murder of an Egyptian woman in a German courtroom in Dresden last month. Such cases are taking place in various western countries as a result of the Islamophobia preached by the likes of Bush, Berlesconi and Sarkozy which goes against the values preached by the West. The Islamophobic atmosphere artificially created by the Rightist and Christian groups has emboldened Europe and America’s Racist Right to take the law in its hands and has created an atmosphere of intolerance against religious and ethnic minorities. The AIMMM cautions that such behaviour on the part of western powers does not serve their claimed quest for good relations with the World of Islam.

Persecution of Muslims in Xinkiang

The AIMMM condemns the reign of terror unleashed by the Chinese security forces and the Chinese Han settlers in “Xinjiang”, or Eastern Turkestan, on the Uighur Muslims. The AIMMM particularly condemns the indiscriminate use of fire arms against Xinkiang Muslims last July which resulted in the murder of close to 200 Muslims, injuries to thousands and disappearance of thousands ever since. The AIMMM notes that Eastern Turkestan is a traditional Muslim homeland whose demography the Chinese are trying to change drastically while exploiting the vast economic resources of the region without sharing its fruits with the local population which, coupled with state repression, has led to tensions in the region which erupt from time to time. The AIMMM calls on the Chinese government to realise that its way to prosperity and world status does not go through state terrorism seen earlier in its similarly brutal form in the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square. China must stop the migration into “Xinjiang” or Eastern Turkestan and allow its people to enjoy civil and human rights other Chinese enjoy. 

Western threats to Iran

The AIMMM condemns the continued western threats to Iran, especially the open Israeli assertions, with clear western support, that it will attack Iran’s nuclear and military facilities. This behaviour unsettles the whole region and helps the growth of militancy in Muslim societies. Should Israel be allowed by the US to go ahead to attack Iranian facilities, the whole Middle East will be pushed to another war for which America and Israel alone will be responsible.