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COMMUNITY NEWS: 16-30 April 2001
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| Muslim
women in Old Delhi grieving for Imam Husain |
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| Former Azad
Kashmir PM Sardar Abdul Qayyum speaking to an Indian delegation |
Seeing is believing
Kanpur: No one is exception in the eyes of the police when it comes with
sympathizing with the beleaguered Muslim community in this riot prone city.
Akshaya Mukul a journalist working with the Times of India had some of the first
hand experience of what happens when one tries to get the real picture from very
close.
Akshaya Mukul who was in Kanpur in the wake of the riots was amazed to see
police storming his hotel room where he was meeting with a few Muslim leaders.
Muhammad Sulaiman, principal of Faiz-e-Aam Inter College and a member of Muslim
Personal Law Board [see p. 24] and Muhammad Tariq Faizi a local journalist were
arrested from his hotel room. Police accused Sulaiman of being behind everything
wrong that took place during those couple of days after riots in the city. Mukul
was threatened not to write anything about this episode. You better not say or
write any thing, he was told. Aren’t you in Kanpur till 4:40? Policemen
threatened him.
Stop vandalism
Jaipur: A Muslim delegation consisting of several representatives of Muslim
Organizations went to the Rajasthan Governor Anshu Man Singh to attract his
attention towards the spate of incidents of Qur’an burning in the country.
They also handed over a memorandum to him to be presented to the President.
The memorandum showed its displeasure over incidents of burning of the Holy
Qur’an and demanded that stern actions be taken against the communal
organizations instigating the masses.
The memorandum also showed its annoyance over distorting the image of Muslims in
newspapers and magazines in recent times. It said that there was an effort on
the part of some vested interests to create animosity against Muslims. It
demanded to ban such publications immediately.
The delegation included Jamaat-e-Islami’s Engineer Muhammad Salimuddin,
Muhammad Nazimuddin, president of Progressive Muslim Front Muhammad Mahir Azad
(MLA), Jamia Hidayat’s Maulana Ziaur Rahman, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad
Foundation’s Habib Khan and SIO’s Syed Nasir Hasan.
Trigger-happy cops
Srinagar: A seventeen-year old youth was killed and another wounded in
Kashmir’s north western town of Baramulla on 23 March when the police opened
fire to quell a student’s procession protesting against the latest burning of
the Holy Qur’an by activists of a hard line Hindu group in Amritsar and
Patiala recently. In Baramulla, around fifty-five kilometres from Srinagar angry
students attacked passing vehicles with stones to force a bandh. As the riot
police came their way, the town’s streets saw brick batting for which the
police made attempts to disperse the protesting students by chasing them in
lanes and bylanes of the city.
Soon a contingent of CRPF joined local police to quell the surging mobs. Later
on a student Merajuddin Sheikh died when the policemen twice opened fire at
protesters at Uri Bus Stand just outside the town.
Agra’s historical Masjid in danger
Agra: The historical Shahi Jama Masjid of Agra was initially built by Shah
Jehan in the middle of seventeenth century but after the death of his beloved
wife, Mumtaz Mahal, his, daughter Jehan Ara, with the permission of her father,
got it built and completed under her supervision after five years in 1648 AD
(1058 AH). Inside the mosque, marbles are inlaid in the arches and walls up to a
height of around six-and-half feet from the floor. There are imposing gates in
the north and south of the mosque. The main gate in the front was blown up by
the English forces in the mutiny of 1857 who, after occupying the mosque, had
demolished half of its veranda and built the Railway station of Agra Fort and a
road in its place. Rest of the mosque was open for the army but barred for
offering prayers for 8 years. An effort was initiated in Aug. 1857 to have the
mosque reopened. The trustee of the mosque, Maulana Qamarul Islam wrote several
letters, starting from the magistrate to the commissioner, Governor, Governor
General, Lord John Lawrence, and finally the mosque was reopened after eight
years.
But today this historic mosque is in a very bad shape because of indifferent and
sometimes inimical attitude of the concerned authorities and departments and
also the insensitivity of Muslims themselves. All the doors of the original
building of the mosque especially the main gate in the centre are getting
detached from the walls and there is a gap of at least an inch right from the
ceiling up to the floor between the original building and the gate. The door has
got dislocated by at least six inches from its original place and huge stones
laid inside the walls have developed cracks. The mosque is built of red stones
but marbles and black stones have also been used for beauty. Mortars between the
huge stones for cementing them have became ineffective and are falling down, as
a result they have become very loose and may fall down with even a slight jerk.
The minaret and turret on the right side at the back of the mosque have become
hollow from inside. In case this turret falls, almost half of the mosque may
collapse repair and reconstruction of which will become impossible. Wide cracks
have developed in the ceiling, minarets and turrets of the mosque. Thick layers
of moss and grass on the walls and ceilings and tonnes of rubbles being
collected for years have weakened the walls and ceiling and created cracks as
result of which rain water seeps in the walls and ceiling thereby further
weakening them. The very foundations of the mosque have become week. Besides, a
market has illegally been built nearby, due to which the mosque’s existence is
in danger.
Police Terror Continues
Muzaffar Nagar: Police arrested a leading Muslim leader of the city Haji
Azeezu Rahman on the pretext of his alleged relations with a local mafia don.
Haji is a well known and respected leader and social activist. Nobody is ready
to believe the police version that he was hand in gloves with the mafia don
Nafees Ansari.
Local leaders including his relatives were not informed of Haji’s whereabouts.
Even the local MP Ameer Alam Khan was unable to know as to where Haji has been
kept. Later it was told that he has been taken to Meerut where he is under
interrogation. People are accusing the police that it is dancing to the tunes of
saffron outfits and want to communalize the city by implicating minority leaders
in false cases.
Shaz to go to Press Council
Hyderabad: Senior journalist and social activist Baqar Husain Shaz who was
detained by local police on 9 March for allegedly inciting the local youths has
asked the government to hold a judicial inquiry of his arrest and
eleven-day-long detention.
Baqar said while talking to the correspondent after his release that the Andhra
Pradesh Government has adopted a policy of suppressing the press. He alleged
that the state government is suppressing the freedom given by the Constitution.
Baqar said that the police arrested him on 9 March blaming him for throwing
stones on the people of other community and communally inciting the people of a
community. Baqar added that the police has registered these cases against him
only because he had published the news of Qur’an burning in Delhi in bold
headings.
Baqar has said that he will go to the Press Council of India and National
Commission for Human Rights.
Murder remains unsolved
Aligarh: Syed Suhail Ahmed an Aligarh-based Bahujan Smajwadi leader was shot
dead and his friend injured when three unidentified assailants who were in auto
rikshaw opened fire at their Maruti Gypsy at the Asharam Chowk crossing in New
Delhi.
The incident took place at around 9 in the morning when Suhail, in his
mid-thirties who fought the last assembly election as a BSP candidate in Aligarh,
and his friend Daler Khan were going to Tis Hazari Court. As they stopped at
Ashram Chowk redlight one of the three unidentified men shot three bullets at
Ahmad hitting him on his chest. Ahmad later succumbed to his injuries in AIIMS.
Choudhary will affect WB polls
Kolkata: Saifuddin Choudhary, a former MP and CPM rebel who floated his own
political party recently was being laughed at by the CPM till recently. But
things have started changing for everyone as Chowdhary’s charisma seems to be
attracting a large number of people.
The party bigwigs attending the politburo meeting in New Delhi held recently
made admission that expelled party leader Saifuddin Chowdharys’ presence in
the elections would ensure a meaningful triangular contest in the forthcoming
assembly elections in the state. Though the Congress has been severely shaken by
a wave of defections from its ranks to the Trinamul its poll tie up with
Chowdhary’s fledgeling party has kept alive the chances of the third front
disrupting a straight fight between the Left and Mamat Banerjee.
In the meantime Chowdhary has announced his party’s contestants’ list for
the forthcoming assembly elections. He has said that a tie up with the Congress
is not possible due to its impending tie up with the Trinamul because of its
affiliation with the NDA. But it is understood that if Congress does not opt for
electoral alliance with the Trinamul Congress the chances of a tie up with
Chowdhary’s party is still possible.
Jamia recovering its lands
New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia is gearing up to recover its landed
properties worth crores of rupees from the land sharks. But with the unfolding
of each case some stark realities have surfaced, leaving the authorities high
and dry. Some of the Jamia family members are alleged to be involved in the
murky land deals clinched with the land sharks from time to time.
Lt. General Zaki started the land recovery operation during his tenure as Jamia
VC. Unlike his predecessor he mustered the courage to take on the land sharks.
But before he could see his operations concluded General Zaki retired. Now Major
General NS Katoch is up in arms against the land grabbers. He is officer on
special duty (OSD) in charge of the estate. Around fifty bighas of land in
Jasola Village was recovered from encroachers during Zaki’s tenure. It took
the University 66 years to recover this land. Over ten bighas of land adjacent
to Okhla was recovered recently. Now the University is proposing to construct a
boundary wall to check any further encroachment. Behind the engineering college
a patch of land around 37 bighas was under encroachment out of which 21 bighas
have been recovered and efforts are on for the rest of land.
Protest over renaming of Allahabad
Lucknow: UP Chief Minister Rajnath Singh’s announcement that Allahabd
would be renamed as Tirth Raj Prayag has triggered a major controversy.
Muslims have reacted sharply on the announcement of the chief minister in a
program organized by some sadhus in the UP capital. The All India Muslim Forum
president Nihaluddin faxed a letter to the president KR Narayanan protesting
against Singh’s move. Nihaluddin has written that Singh’s arbitrary
announcement without consulting the state assembly shows that he has no faith in
the law of the country. He has urged the president to thwart the BJP’s move to
rewrite the history. A similar view was expressed by the vice president of the
All India Muslim Personal Law Board Kalbe Sadiq. The Muslim community will
oppose tooth and nail Rajnath Singh who with an eye on his election made the
announcement to appease seers and upper caste voters in his constituency, the
Maulana said.
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