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Bhopal: Dr. Arshi Khan of the
Department of Political Science in Aligarh Muslim University,
(AMU), has said that Muslims have entered into a more dangerous
phase of 'identity-assassination' on the pretext of terrorism. The
law enforcement agencies need to be honest and law-abiding while
dealing with occurrence of violent incidents.
Dr. Khan lamented on the prejudices of the enforcement agencies
which take no time to blame or arrest the members of the Muslim
community whenever any violent incident occurs but they play
excuses if investigations zeroes in on non-Muslims belonging to
the Sangh Parivar (radical militant Hindu organization).
He said
that India does not belong to the Sangh Parivar. It belongs to the
people of the country in which Muslims have considerable share and
stakes.
He said that the welfare of the Muslims and other
minorities would also strengthen the country as their fates are
inseparable.
The above views were expressed by Dr. Khan while speaking at a
Round-Table Conference to mark the World Minority Rights Day on
“Minority Rights Day: Policies and Issues" at Aligarh on December
18.
The conference was organized by Dr. Ambedkar Chair, Faculty of
Law, AMU, in collaboration with the Faculty of Law, Aligarh Muslim
University.
According to a Press release Dr. Khan focused mainly on the
present situation of the Muslim minority community which is
backward, deprived, discriminated and excluded in the public
sphere.
Dr. Khan said that socio-economic and educational
backwardness and exclusion of Muslims are self-speaking facts
mentioned by the Gopal Singh Committee (1983), Justice Sachchar
Committee (2006), Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission (2007) and
the Andhra Pradesh Backward Class Commission and the report of the
Minority Commission in 2004.
Dr. Mohibul Haque speaking on the occasion said: “We are not
celebrating but observing minority rights day which shows that
there is nothing to celebrate keeping in view the conditions of
minorities in India and its neighbouring countries”.
Dr. Haque said the Declaration on rights of minorities that was
adopted by the United Nations’ General Assembly on December 18,
1992 has unequivocally declared that principle of
non-discrimination or equality before the law as enshrined in the
Constitution is not enough to protect minorities from
marginalization and exclusion. It has called upon states to adopt
special measures for the preservation and promotion of the rights
of minorities, he added.
He emphasized the fact that being the largest democracy of the
world, India should establish precedence by making special efforts
for providing physical and economic security to the Muslims and
other minorities. The minority character of Jamia Millia Islamia
and AMU should be preserved to the best satisfaction of the
Muslims of India.
Earlier, Prof. Mohammad Shabbir, who chaired the conference while welcoming the panel of speakers, Dr. Arshi Khan,
Dr. Mohibul Haque and other guests, said that it was an important
day to assess the actual health of minorities in constitutional
context.
He highlighted the importance of the Indian Constitution
and the Justice Ranganath Mishra Commission for providing the
legitimate base for doing away with the backwardness of the
Muslims minority community.
He said that the Constitution has
promoted other vulnerable groups but the task of overcoming the
problems of the Muslims minority is yet to be fully attended by
the government.
Meanwhile, valuable comments were made by K. K. Sharma, Dr.
Mrs. Samina Khan, Dr. Nafees Ahmad, Dr. Tanzeem Fatima, Dr. Badar
Ahmad, Dr. Waseem Ali, Mr. Tahseen Raza. A number of research
scholars and students participated in the interactive session.
Prof. Iqbal Ali Khan made the concluding remarks with his
suggestion for upholding the cause of the minorities in the
interest of Indian democracy.
A resolution was adopted on this occasion urging the Government of
India to (i) establish judicial inquiry in all cases of
bomb-blasts since 1998, (ii) stop the harassment of Muslim youths
on the pretext of terrorism, (iii) establish special Tribunal to
look into the cases of riots and riots' related incidents, (iv)
set up an All India Compensation Commission for the Riot Victims,
(v) to strengthen the National Commission for Minorities, (NCM) to
make it effective with the power of inquiry and investigation with
the rights to indict the violators of the rights of minorities,
(vi) ask the enforcement agencies to follow the Rule of Law and
(vii) to enact a new law to prevent political leaders in power
from committing genocide and crimes against peace.
(pervezbari@eth.net)
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