Leaders to meet PM implementation over Sachar repor
Thursday, December 14, 2006 03:59 [IST]
Aligarh:
Muslim leaders are to call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to request him to
implement the recommendations of a Government-sponsored report that studied the
state of Indian Muslims.
This was decided at a symposium organized by the 'Sir Syed
Awareness Forum' at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) here.
The Muslim delegation will also meet United Progressive
Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi to demand that the suggestions of the
committee headed by Rajender Sachar, formerly chief justice of Delhi High
Court, should be accepted.
The Sachar report, as it has come to be known, has examined
in detail the social, economic and educational status of Muslims in India,
numbering some 140 million.
Indian Muslims constitute the world's second largest Islamic
population after Indonesia.
"Muslims should not depend on government for their
welfare and try to solve their problems themselves," said Moulana Fazle Rahim
Mujaddadi, rector of Jamia Hidaya (Arabic
University) of Jaipur.
He said the Sachar committee had done "a commendable
job". Muslims in India,
he added, lagged behind other communities in every field. Shakeel Samdani, president of the forum and a reader in
AMU's law department, said implementation of the Mandal Commission was the best
method to increase the percentage of Muslims in the government.
He said Muslims should not doubt the intentions of the
Congress government.
In his keynote address, AMU proctor Akhlaq Ahmad said if the
government policies were not in conformity with the constitution, they would
not stand the test of judiciary.
"There should not be any discrimination on the basis of
religion," he said.
Saud Alam Qasmi of the All India Muslim Personal law Board
said, "The report has exposed the propaganda of communal forces that
Muslims get educated in madrassas (seminaries) and hence they are terrorists.
According to the report, only four percent of the Muslims go to
madrassas."
M. Saleemuddin, the pro vice chancellor of AMU, said Indian
Muslims had contributed a lot during the freedom struggle and still they are
contributing for the nation. The Sachar committee in an eye opener and the
educated Muslims must come forward and help the needy Muslims.
Amina Kishore, principal of Abdulla Women's College,
stressed the need for a special package for Muslim women from the government. |
