ALL
INDIA MUSLIM MAJLIS-E-MUSHAWARAT
[Umbrella
body of the Indian Muslim organisations]
D-250,
Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar
New
Delhi-110025 India
All
India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat
Markazi
Majlis (Central Committee) meeting
21 December, 2013
PRESS
STATEMENT
New Delhi, 21 December, 2013: The Markazi Majlis (Central Committee) of the All India
Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat (AIMMM), umbrella body of Indian Muslim
organisations and eminet personalities, held its second meeting of the year
here today at the central office. The meeting, the first after the
reunification of the two factions of Mushawarat last October, was chaired by
the AIMMM National President Dr Zafarul-Islam Khan and attended by the
following members: Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari, Janab Mohammad Jafar (Vice
President), Syed Shahabuddin, Maulana Junaid Ahmad Banarasi, Dr. Anwarul
Islam, Janab Nusrat Ali, Janab Abdur Rahman Kondoo, Dr. Javed Jamil, Dr
Jawed Ahmad, Prof. Mateen Ahmad Siddiqui, Mufti Ataur Rahman Qasmi, Janab
Mujtaba Farooq, Janab Amanullah Khan, Janab Masoom Moradabadi, Janab Abdul
Khaliq, Janab Manzoor Ahmad, IPS (Retd.), Janab Shahid Sharif Shaikh and
Janab Akhtar Husain Akhtar.
he meeting offered condolences to
the millat and families of prominent leaders of the community who passed
away recently and prayed for their souls, especially to MUFTI MUHAMMAD
ASHFAQUE HUSAIN NAEEMI of Rajasthan, MUSHTAQUE MADNI, editor of Usool, Pune, Dr
WAZARAT RASOOL KHAN, KHWAJA MUZAFFAR HUSAIN RIZVI, SYED HASNAIN MIAN NAZMI MARAHRAVI,
sajjadanashin of Khanqah Barkatiya Marahra, MAULANA IBRAHIM MIAN SAHEB of South
Africa, a khalifa of Shaikhul Hadees Maulana Zakarya, PROF NOORUL ISLAM of
Aligarh, and SHEIKH HAFIZ ZUBER ALIZAI Mau Nath Bhanjan.
The meeting discussed organisational,
milli, national and international issues and passed the following RESOLUTIONS:
Muzaffarnagar riots
The one-sided anti-Muslim violence,
which erupted in the rural areas of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli and Baghpat districts
of western Uttar Pradesh last September, is a blot on the face of India in
general and the Samajwadi party ruling the state in particular. The state
government alongwith its local machinery failed to anticipate or even to take
action as soon as the riots started and has since continued in denial of the
enormity of the event and its tragic fallout for close to one lakh Muslims who
had to flee their villages and take refuge in over 30 refugee camps in Shamli
and Muzaffarnagar districts. Many have since returned to their villages or
settled elsewhere while still there are around 15,000 people living in some two
dozen camps in sub-human conditions, surviving in plastic tents while their
children are not accepted by local schools and colleges and both Jats and local
administration are pressurising them to withdraw FIRs and drop legal cases
against the criminals who killed, burnt alive, raped and uprooted a large
population within a span of two days on 7-8 September
this year.
AIMMM
appeals to the state and Central governments to work in seriousness for the
long-term rehabilitation of these refugees who do not wish to return to their
villages. Their children must be admitted to local schools and colleges, their
FIRs and legal cases should be seriously pursued to punish the criminals and
they should be provided with free land to settle as they are camping at present
on forest and private lands which they will have to vacate sooner or later.
AIMMM
lauds the services of the local madrasas and mosques which sprang to the help
of the victims and appreciates the services of the civil society, especially
Muslim organisations like Jamaat-e Islami Hind, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind, Zakat
Foundation and Charity Alliance etc which have offered timely help and are busy
in the difficult work of the refugees’ rehabilitation. AIMMM appreciates the efforts of Jamaat-e Islami Hind to
bring Jats and Muslims of the riot-hit area around Muzaffarnagar closer in a
bid to allow the return of the uprooted to their villages with honour and
dignity.
Politics of Communal riots
Over two hundred communal riots have
been recorded within a few months before the recent elections in five states.
It is now clear that communal riots are engineered by certain, especially Sangh
Parivar, forces while other political and administrative forces allow this to
happen. It is the responsibility of the civil society and media to come forward
to expose this nexus which is a blot on the face of our democracy. There is a
movement now against corruption but the equally dangerous poison of communalism
continues to be ignored and tolerated.
Communal Violence (Prevention) Bill
The AIMMM notes with regret that
both Congress and BJP conspired to prevent the passage of the Communal Violence
(Prevention) Bill in the current session of Parliament while both cooperated to
get the watered-down Lokpal bill passed. The Communal violence bill too has
been watered-down but even in its present form it will make the local
administration accountable, which will be an important step to check riots.
AIMMM believes that both BJP and Congress have an interest to let things
continue as they are as both benefit from the outcome of communal riots and
both are united to prevent the Muslim community from enjoying peace and
communal harmony needed for progress and prosperity.
Islamic finance
Islamic, or ethical, finance and
banking has become an accepted mode of alternative finance in many parts of the
world. Of late, UK has decided to become the hub of Islamic finance which
offers an alternative to the interest-based exploitative commercial lending.
Despite various assurances by Indian politicians including Prime Minster
Manmohan Singh and recommendations of the Committee on Financial Sector Reforms
of the Planning Commission (2008), whose chairman is now the governor of RBI,
the Indian government continues to drag its feet in this field. It is time
India took a brave step to allow this form of financial activity to break the
vicious circle of private and corporate money-lenders and offer a large segment
of the Indian population a chance to invest and participate in the financial
sector with clear conscience.
Article 370
BJP’s prime-ministerial candidate
has suggested a debate over Article 370 of the Indian Constitution which
binds Jammu & Kashmir with India. AIMMM reiterates that no attempt should
be made to change the constitutional guarantees given to J&K. Any attempt
to do so will only antagonise a large section of J&K people, both Muslims
and Hindus, which in turn will reopen the question of the accession of the state
to the Indian Union. Such a mayhem suits BJP since it marvels in fishing in
muddy waters, but the whole country will suffer from the repercussions of such
an attempt to tamper with Article 370 which binds J&K with India.
Homosexuality -- Article 377
The AIMMM welcomes the decision of
the Supreme Court of India to overturn the 2009 Delhi High Court decision and
order to continue criminalisation of unnatural sexual relations under Article
377. The AIMMM warns certain elements in Indian civil society and political
parties to desist from removing or altering Article 377 as it will be a
betrayal to the customs, traditions and beliefs of an overwhelming majority of
Indians and rejection of the teachings of all religions and creeds prevailing
in India.
Village Defence Committees
Government-sponsored and protected
VDCs in J&K, especially in Chenab valley, are terrorising the local
population. Out of 12,709 armed members of the VDCs in Chenab valley alone,
11,745 are Hindus which does not reflect the ground reality. This illegal
militia openly misuses its officially-provided arms and this was very clear
during the Eidul Fitr riots in Kishtwar last August. For communal peace and
tranquility, this illegal entity should be disbanded forthwith and the state
should desist from relegating the role of police and security agencies to
unaccountable entities.
Persian and Arabic
AIMMM notes with pain and dismay
that the UPSC has dropped Arabic and Persian languages from the list of
permitted languages for public service exams while almost dead or limited-use
languages are kept on the list. Persian is very important for our country as it
was the official language for almost seven centuries and all our official and
private records of the pre-1857 period are in Persian. Arabic, on the other
hand, is the official language of 23 countries in the Middle East and North
Africa with which we have strong commercial and cultural relations. Any
dilution of the importance of these two languages will only harm our own country.
Bangladesh
AIMMM
condemns the judicial murder of Abdul Qadir Molla by the government of Hasina
Wajed in Bangladesh using a controversial
verdict issued by a discredited tribunal. The hasty execution of a prominent
leader of Jamaate-Islami Bangladesh is a scandal and crime committed by an
unpopular government which is about to be overthrown by the people of
Bangladesh in the forthcoming general elections. The present government by its
hurried execution of a controversial order by a politicised tribunal is only
seeking to weaken opposition forces. AIMMM believes that it was totally unfair
to revive closed cases after four decades defying the decision of the first
President of Bangladesh. AIMMM appeals to international human rights
organisations to take the Bangladesh government and its discredited tribunal to
the International Court of Justice as sanity and good counsel have failed to
bring the present rulers of Bangladesh to their senses.
Angola
AIMMM is deeply concerned about the
treatment of Muslims in Angola and the reported outlawing of Islam in Angola on
the plea that the believers of Islam are less than one hundred thousand in that
country. AIMMM believes that the criterion fixed by the Government of Angola to
recognise a religion is artificial if not outright malicious. AIMMM appeals to
the Government of Angola to revise its decision and to accord its Muslim
citizens the freedom of religion which is part of the universally-agreed human
and civil rights of people in all countries.
Egypt
AIMMM notes that the ruling junta in
Egypt is trying to create a new constitution while only last year the country
had voted for and adopted a constitution in a free and fair referendum.
Overthrow of elected governments is unacceptable in today’s world and popular
forces cannot be outlawed by a constitution written by a narrow-based “liberal”
westernised elite. The Egyptian army should unconditionally return to the
barracks and allow the elected and legal president of the country to resume his
duties.
Gaza Strip
The inhuman and illegal Israeli
blockade of Gaza strip continues since 2007. The people in Gaza Strip are
suffering and dying as a result of this illegal siege. The people of Gaza had a
brief respite under President Morsi of Egypt but since the military coup last
July, things have returned to a situation worse than Mubarak days because the
army has destroyed most of the tunnels between Gaza and Sinai which were a
lifeline for the people of Gaza. Gaza is in dire need of world support to
survive and to defeat the brutal Israeli blockade.
Syria
AIMMM observes with pain the
continued civil war and blood-letting in Syria as a result of foreign support
to both sides of the conflict. The situation is worsened by the entry of
Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists of the so-called “Islamic State of Iraq &
Syria” who have muddled a just struggle against a sectarian and dictatorial
regime. The AIMMM supports the struggle of the people of Syria to free
themselves from the yoke of the sectarian Ba’athist dictatorship and appeals to
foreign forces to stop meddling in the affairs of Syria and desist from giving
it a sectarian colour.
[end]
