The Working Committee (Majlis-e Amla) of All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations on November 14 debated a number of organisational, milli and national issues.
The AIMMM president Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan apprised members about the efforts to regain the minority character of the Jamia Millia Islamia and prevent the implementation of the OBC quota in this institution which will complicate the campaign for the minority status. The efforts included meetings with the Jamia Millia VC and the HRD Minister as well as representations sent to the President, Prime Minister, Chairman, UGC, Chairperson, UPA and Minority Affairs Minister.
The meeting also discussed the deteriorating communal atmosphere in some rural areas of U.P. and Haryana where the majority community is not allowing Muslims to build mosques. A fact-finding mission of AIMMM visited Kalalati village of Ambala district in Haryana on August 28, 2009. The president also apprised the members of the financial aid offered to Aila victims in West Bengal and other organisational activities like meetings, talks and dharnas. It also discussed the Central Madrasa Board issue and decided to ask the government to pay more attention to provide quality education through schools in Muslim localities.
The AIMMM Working Committee adopted a number of resolutions on the current national and international situation. In a resolution on the emerging political parties, it cautioned them against over-extending themselves to other regions without due preparation and warns them that their presence will become counter-productive if they compete against each other as this will benefit other forces. Instead, each party should work in cooperation with other similar outfits and let other outfits with stronger presence in a particular region to contest from there.
On the Jamia Millia’s minority status and OBC quota, it said that while the Jamia Millia fraternity with the help of the Muslim community has been fighting its battle to regain the minority character of this institution founded by Muslims way back in 1920, and while the case is pending with the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, the UGC has found it prudent to send one ultimatum after another to the Jamia asking it to implement the 27% OBC quota with the threat that Jamia’s new grants will be stopped if it failed to implement this quota from the next academic year whose prospectus has to be published by late December this year. The AIMMM asked all Muslim and civil society organisations to stand up against this injustice and struggle to give Jamia its due under the Constitution and laws of India.
The AIMMM condemned the attacks by media and political outfits on Darul Uloom Deoband’s old fatwa on Vande Matram and its recent support by Jamiat Ulama-e Hind at its 30th conference at Deoband on November 3. The resolution said that the Muslim stand towards this song has been clear since at least 1937 and noted that the new controversy was in fact raked up by Hindutva communal elements in Saharanpur and Deoband who held demonstrations, raised offensive slogans and burned Darul Uloom effigies on various occasions weeks before the Jamiat Ulama-e Hind conference. The AIMMM holds Hindutva elements guilty of hooliganism and calls upon the government to deal with it as proper under law.
The AIMMM is alarmed at reports coming out from various villages in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and outer Delhi where communal elements are not allowing Muslims to build new mosques on their own land and are trying to expel such Muslims from villages where they have lived for centuries. The AIMMM said that it is the legal and constitutional responsibility of the State to provide security to all its citizens and enable them to pray according to their religious beliefs in peace and within the bounds of law.
On the current crisis in AMU, the AIMMM called upon the university authorities to reopen the university as soon as possible, and called upon the student community not to forget that peace and tranquillity on the campus are needed for their own educational advancement and emergence of their alma mater as a centre of excellence. As a long term measure, the AIMMM asked the district and state authorities to deal firmly with the goonda and mafia elements in and around the university who hold the university to ransom for their vested interests and do not allow any VC to function.
On the issue of Naxalism, the AIMMM condemned violence for political reasons. It also condemned government plans to use Army and air force to hit the Maoist insurgents. The AIMMM believes that the problem should be resolved through dialogue and not by military means. It calls upon the government to use only the police and para-military forces to combat this menace taking extra care not to hurt adivasis and local inhabitants and to start a genuine plan to develop the neglected areas where Naxalism finds supporters due to backwardness and negligence. The AIMMM further demanded the government to give the advasis a fair share in the revenues generated by the exploitation of non-renewable resources on their ancestral lands.
On J&K, the AIMMM welcomed the Prime Minister’s recent announcements of seeking a dialogue with Kashmiri separatists, and hoped that these promises will not remain mere press announcements but actual invitations will also be sent to all organisations concerned and that sincere talks will be held with them at the earliest so that some solution is reached way before the next elections when the government will not be able to negotiate anything.
On encounter killings, the AIMMM registered its satisfaction that a magisterial enquiry has exonerated Ishrat Jahan and her colleagues killed in an encounter by Gujarat police in June 2004. It called for similar enquiries into other incidents like Khawaja Yunus, Sadik Jamal and Sohrabuddin, etc. also in order to book all those responsible for murder of innocents for political and other reasons. The AIMMM expressed its firm opinion that since most police encounters are fake, all must be probed by high level judicial enquiry commissions and that the government and judiciary cannot hide behind the illogical claim that such an enquiry will affect police morale.
The AIMMM condemned the recent attacks by police on Muslim prisoners held in so-called terrorism cases like Gujarat’s Sabarmati Jail and Jaipur jail and said that physical attacks on prisoners are illegal in all cases as prisoners too enjoy human and civil rights which should be respected by all, especially by the protectors of law.
The AIMMM said that it is unable to understand the reasons behind the government’s slackness in taking action against proven Hindutva terror outfits like VHP, Bajrang Dal, Durga Vahini, Hindu Yuva Vahini, Sanatan Sanstha and Abhinav Bharat, etc. and against places where Hindutva terrorists have routinely received arms training like Bhonsla Military School and Akanksha Resort as exposed by then Maharashtra ATS chief late Hemant Karkare. The AIMMM resolution went on to say that the government’s soft policy towards Hindutva terrorists only encourages them to continue their terrorist activities as seen most recently at Margao in Goa. The resolution added that it is now clear that many of Hindutva terrorist acts have been unjustly attributed by security agencies to Indian Muslims and that many Muslim youths arrested unjustly are still languishing in jails as a result. AIMMM demanded that the central and state governments should review such cases at the earliest so that innocents behind bars may come out and resume their normal life and careers.
The AIMMM welcomes the basic spirit behind the right to education bill and asked the government to promote education in the Muslim community and to open quality education schools in Muslim localities according to the national norms.
The AIMMM registered its dismay that India has not supported the Goldstone report about the Israeli attacks on Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009, which has held that Israel has committed war crimes and has recommended some Israeli political and military leaders to be tried by the International Court of Justice. The Indian Muslim apex body said it is time Israel is punished for all its crimes against the Palestinian people and its Arab neighbours and the Goldstone report has provided a good chance to bring the Zionists to book at least in one case of barbarity seen by the whole world. AIMMM also registered its shock at the reports appearing in various western newspapers and websites accusing Israel of killing Palestinian youths to use/sell their organs starting with a report by a respected Swedish journalist in Aftonbladet.
The AIMMM condemned the American efforts to prolong military occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq and to increase its troops there. It said that President Obama should implement his promises to bring occupation to an end and the new US administration should allow the wretched people of these countries to enjoy freedom and real democracy.
The AIMMM welcomed the continuing Saudi efforts to hold dialogue sessions with representatives of other religions, interfaith groups and cultures, the latest being the conference at Geneva on September 30-October 1. AIMMM said that this sends a good message to the people of the world that Muslims are eager to understand other faiths and nations and to live in peace with them.