All India Muslim Majlis-E-Mushawarat (AIMMM), in its meeting held on November 27, adopted resolutions on the various issues confronting the Muslims in India.
AYODHYA VERDICT
On Verdict of the Special Bench of Allahabad High Court on Babri Masjid Dispute, the AIMMM expressed its deep shock and dismay. It said, “The judgment has many frailties, inconsistencies and contradictions but more importantly it violates the universal Doctrine of Adverse Possession, bases itself on the faith and belief of a section of the majority community rather than on admissible evidence and reasons, declares the entire disputed site a legal person, and converts a title suit into a partition suit, and goes beyond the 1994 mandate of the Supreme Court and the pleadings of the plaintiffs. Thus, in many ways the verdict violates the Constitution, the Rule of Law and the Secular Order.”
The AIMMM also expressed its apprehension that unless reversed, this verdict will create a precedent which endanger the survival of many places of worship and shrines of the religious minorities, which a section of the majority may claim under one pretext or another.
The MMM has concluded that the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, which had undertaken the legal defence of the Babri Masjid following the Demolition in 1992 and the revival of the title suites in 1994, has failed to fulfil its responsibility adequately, whatever the reasons, and has not so far declared a firm intention to intervene in the Supreme Court or to file a PIL.
The AIMMM has noted that the dignified silence of the Muslim community has been taken as acquiescence and acceptance of this unjust verdict while the RSS, VHP and other members of the Sangh Pariwar have not only adopted a triumphalist tone but started pressing the Muslim community, directly and indirectly, to surrender the 1/3rd share in the disputed site which the HC gave them so that they may fulfil their objective of building a grand Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir. The Muslim community has, therefore, unanimously rejected their call for negotiations.
The AIMMM has noted that apart from the JUH (Arshad group), which has filed an appeal, several other Muslim organisations of national eminence, including the AIMPLB, AIMC, the JIH, the PFI, the MJAH, intend to intervene or file a PIL. The AIMMM appeals to all Muslim organisations as well as all secular parties and NGOs to come forward in defence of the secular order and thus reassure the religious minorities against the majoritarian threat implicit in the Allahabad verdict.
The central body of Mushawarat advised AIMMM, which was the first to take up the cause of restoration of Babri Masjid in 1986 and which had established the BMMCC, to intervene in the appeal or file a PIL at the appropriate time. The AIMMM has appealed to the Muslim community to donate generously to the AIMMM & other Muslim organisations which enter the arena to provide necessary financial resources for efficiently and effectively undertaking the historic challenge.
The MMM reiterates its faith in the Constitution and hopes that the Supreme Court shall reverse the verdict and award the title of the disputed site to the Muslim community and calls upon the Government to implement the road map already outlined by the S.C. and not to hand over the entire Acquired Area to the Hindu organisations.
RANGANATH PANEL REPORT
On Deliberate Delay by the UPA Government in Implementing the Ranganath Mishra Commission Report, the AIMMM expressed its dissatisfaction at the apathy and insensitivity of the UPA Government towards the implementation of the Report of the Rangnath Mishra Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities, which was submitted two years and a half ago, and though placed in the Parliament has not yet been discussed. The AIMMM has noted the Government statement that the Report is under consideration and that its recommendations have been forwarded to many Ministries and Departments. The AIMMM has urged the Prime Minister to expedite the implementation keeping in view that:
(a) A Caste Census in 2011 has been authorised by the Government.
(b) Nearly all secular parties including the INC have in principle supported reservation for the religious minorities.
(b) In a recent judgment the Supreme Court has indicated that the 50% ceiling on reservation is not inflexible and may be relaxed in special circumstances to meet specific situations.
The AIMMM also warned the government that the issue of reservation for minorities is and shall remain at the top of the agenda of the Muslim community in the coming state elections and in the next General Election.
MUSLIMS’ UPLIFT SINCE 2004
On UPA Performance in the field of Muslims’ Uplift since 2004, the AIMMM noted with sadness that there has been no significant increase in the economic, educational and social status of the Muslim minority since 1999 when the UPA came to power until and unless the governments open the door for appropriate reservation in government jobs, higher education, benefit of social development and welfare schemes and flow of bank credit for the Muslims and other deprived minorities. The AIMMM is firmly of the view that there cannot be any substantial uplift.
After a detailed analysis the AIMMM has come to the conclusion that that even the much-heralded Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Right to Education Act have failed to spread and improve the quality of school education for the deprived groups particularly the Muslims and the deprived non-Muslim OBCs. In fact, the SSA has been diluted over the years to the point of relative deprivation of areas of concentration of weaker sections from school facilities, even in respect of teachers, infrastructure, textbooks and mid day meals in existing schools because the per capita availability of SSA funds stands reduced, while the demand for school education has risen. On the other hand, the Education Act threatens the very existence of educational institutions established and administered by the Muslim minority.
The AIMMM has urged the Government to realise that India cannot leap into the 21st century without universal education of quality up to secondary level and only by funding education for the children of the elite and the establishment of private colleges and universities. Such an approach shall produce the managers, administrators and technocrats of the future from the elite to the continued marginalisation of the deprived groups.
The AIMMM has also urged the Ministry of Human Resource Development to give the highest priority to establish primary schools of quality in all areas of human habitation in accordance with national norms and to introduce the mother tongues of the students, irrespective of numbers, as the medium of primary instruction and include them under the Three-Language Formula at the post-primary level.
TRANSPARENCY IN UPLIFT PROGRAMMES
On Transparency in Uplift Programmes Particularly PM’s New 15-Point Programmes, the AIMMM regrets the lack of transparency and meaningful data in government reports and demands that the Government present an Annual Report on targets and achievements of the Prime Minister’s New 15-Point Programmes for the Welfare of the Minorities, apart from the Scholarship and Multi Sectoral Development Plans introduced by it and on the existing institutions like the NMFDC and the Maulana Azad Education Foundation. The Annual Report should include disaggregated data for each minority as well as the change-over the preceding year and since 1999-2000.
The AIMMM, in addition, demanded statements on the recruitment of Muslims in armed forces, paramilitary forces and central intelligence and the provincial armed constabularies and police forces of various States with figures of actual recruitment cadre-wise during the year, and community-wise rise/fall over the preceding year.
The AIMMM also demanded that National Commission for Minorities should have 2/3 members from the Muslim Community and be granted constitutional status as promised and the Government take the initiative to set up a Parliamentary Committee on Minorities and institute a Component Plan for their development.
The AIMMM has called upon the Government to enact laws for the implementation of the Prime Minister’s 15-Point Programme and to give statutory status for National Integration Council.
SAFFRON TERRORISM
On Saffron Terrorism, the AIMMM demanded that the RSS, whose real face has been exposed with the complicity of several pracharaks and office bearers in acts of terrorism, for which with past the Muslim community was often blamed, be declared a terrorist organisation and proscribed.
The AIMMM also demanded that investigation and prosecution of the RSS members and activists suspected of participation in terrorism must be entrusted to the CBI and processed through a Special Court under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court.
The AIMMM further demanded that the Muslim youth who are still under detention as suspects in the very same cases be honourably acquitted and paid due compensation for their wrongful confinement.
The AIMMM is of the view that the RSS has played a role in all major incidents of communal violence since independence, both by including the Hindu community as well as by organising gangs for participating in anti-Muslim violence, apart from its regular propaganda to create distrust against the Muslim community. The AIMMM has called upon the MHA to appoint a National Commission on RSS to look into the record of the RSS which has in the past been indicted by several Commissions of Inquiry.
The AIMMM has pointed out that since the RSS has over the last few decades penetrated deep into various police organisations, the MHA must introduce due checks in their recruitment and deputation to the IB and the CBI at any level and at the same time ensure that Muslim officials are not denied their due participation in national intelligence set up.
AMENDMENT OF WAKF ACT
On Amendment of the Wakf Act 1995, the AIMMM has deplored the delay in the amendment to the Wakf Act, 1995. It particularly demanded that all public Wakfs be included in the list of Public Premises and exempted from agriculture ceiling and rent control laws. The Wakf Tribunals should be authorised to decide all Civil Suits pertaining to Wakf properties, the Act should provide for a Chairman of the Central Wakf Council to be elected by and from among its members in order to make it a fully autonomous body and empower it to monitor and supervise the working of the State Wakf Boards.
The AIMMM also emphasised that Central and State Governments must restore unconditionally all Wakf properties which are in their hands, to the Mutawallis or to the State Wakf Boards, or purchase them at current market prices as well as allow creation of future Wakfs by Muslims and their utilisation for educational and religious purposes.
The AIMMM also demanded a special drive to identity and restore all public Wakfs including mosques, shrines and graveyards which are under illegal occupation and calls upon the Ministry of Minority Affairs and Central Wakf Council to monitor the progress in all states.
The AIMMM has called for the restoration of recently abolished Inter-State Wakf Board for Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh and for the establishment of similar Boards for all contiguous States and Union Territories which have less than five hundred Wakf properties for their proper management.
MANAGEMENT OF HAJ
On Management of Haj, the AIMMM has noted that 2010 has shown some progress in the handling and management of Haj, particularly the re-introduction of a global tender to select and charter Haj carriers but it is of the view that the tender should be launched at least nine months in advance and that it should be followed by intensive negotiations by a high power team with the short-listed carriers to bring down the Haj fare to the level of not more than 75% of the current IATA fare, so that the Haj subsidy, which has only served to fan anti-Muslim communal feelings, may be eliminated at the earliest possible.
The AIMMM is also of the view that there should be a clear and strict division of work between the Haj Committee of India and the Consulate General of India, Jeddah to take care of the management in the country and in Saudi Arabia, respectively. It is also of the view that work related to Haj be transferred from the Ministry of External Affairs to the Ministry of Minority Affairs and that the Govt. should provide a grant-in-aid to meet its administrative cost and submit an Annual Report on Haj to the Parliament.
RESULTS OF BIHAR ELECTION
On Results of Bihar Election 2010, the AIMMM has taken due note of the results of the recent election to the Bihar Legislative Assembly. It finds that Muslims are better represented than in 2005 and hopes that the government it forms shall pay full attention to the aspirations and needs of the Muslim minority and the implementation of the promises and assurances made by it in its manifesto and in the course of the campaign and to the improvement of various programmes that it shall inherit.
The AIMMM hopes that the Muslim community shall have due representation in the Council of Ministers as well as in all Boards, Commissions, Corporations and other statutory bodies, which are filled through nomination.
The AIMMM also hoped that the Government shall establish at state and districts level committees to review the progress of all schemes, centrally or jointly funded, with at least 50% representatives from the people.
The AIMMM is of the view that without direct involvement of the Muslim population, which constitutes 16% of the state population and their adequate representation in government services, higher education, benefits of social and economic development and welfare programmes, the State cannot move forward on the path of progress.
The AIMMM suggests that Government involvement in institutions of special interest to the Muslims like the Minorities Commissions, the Wakf Board and the Haj Committee be upgraded with induction of representative and competent persons from the community who enjoy its trust and respect.
The AIMMM suggested that the State should pay priority attention to the completion of Wakf Survey and the computerisation of wakf records as well as encourage and support the establishment of People’s Wakf Committees at the district level.