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The Markazi Majlis-e-Amla (MMA) of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat held a meeting in New Delhi on 9 August, 2003, with the President Mr. Syed Shahabuddin in Chair. The meeting was attended by Maulana Mohd. Shafi Moonis, Vice-President, Mr. A.R. Shervani, Treasurer, Mr. M.H. Ansari, Mr. Amanullah Khan, Mr. Mohd. Sulaiman, Mr. Ejaz Aslam, all members and Mr.S.H. Abidi and Mr. Navaid Hamid, Secretaries.

The MMA discussed the national and international situation and adopted the following Statement.

The Markazi Majlis-e-Amla (MMA) endorses the decision of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board to reject the proposal for unilateral and unconditional ‘gift’ of the Babari Masjid site and reiterates its demand that since the Sangh Parivar is not prepared for an honourable out-of-court settlement, the Union Government should unequivocally fulfill its constitutional and legal duty by advising the VHP and the rest of the Sangh Parivar to wait for and honour the final judicial verdict and by making a public commitment to implement without any reservation the Supreme Court’s judgement of 24 October, 1994, in letter and spirit.

The MMA expresses its surprise and unhappiness at the emotional outburst by the Prime Minister at the funeral of Pramhans Ram Chandra Das.

The MMA requests the Supreme Court to review expeditiously its order to bifurcate the Demolition Case in the interest of justice and instruct the State Government to revise the notification in order to remove the technical flaw so that the criminal case is expeditiously heard by the CBI Special Court in Lucknow.

The MMA is surprised by persistent refusal of Shri Kalyan Singh to depose before the Liberhan Commission and considers his testimony essential for proper appraisal of the circumstances leads to the Demolition.

The MMA has noted that the obiter dicta of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has been seized upon by the Sangh Parivar to revive the question of introduction of Uniform Civil Code (UCC) and to replay its old game of Muslim-bashing. It calls upon the proponents of the UCC first to introduce a Uniform Tax Code and to achieve complete uniformity within the Hindu Code and then endeavour to produce a draft UCC which shall take into account the personal laws of various religious, caste and tribal communities, for public discussion.

The MMA opposes the proposed central legislation on cow slaughter as unconstitutional, and as an indefensible burden on the public exchequer and as an electoral gimmick.

The MMA welcomes the intervention of the NHRC and the Supreme Court in the Best Bakery Case and calls upon the Commission to formally place all its Recommendations relating to the Gujarat Massacre before the Supreme Court for appropriate directives to the Union and State Governments. It also requests the NHRC to take note of continuing displacement of thousands of families, the terrorization and economic boycott of the community, particularly of those engaged in social work, not to speak of deprivation and marginalisation, harassment and humiliation.

The MMA is firmly of the view that the OBC’s and the Muslim women should have separate sub-quotas of 40% and 12.5% respectively in the proposed reservation for women in the legislatures.

The MMA takes this opportunity to reiterate its demand for due representation for the Muslim community in legislatures, in higher and professional education, in public employment, in distribution of benefits of development and welfare programmes, in proportion to its population at the operational level.

The MMA revives its call for the formation of a National Secular Alliance and requests the Congress, as the biggest secular party, to take the initiative to achieve this objective at the national and state levels in the light of its decision at Srinagar and Shimla.

It cautions the Muslim voters against frittering away their political strength by supporting unwinnable candidates, put up in many cases by new and rootless parties with the support of hostile forces, to ensure the defeat of secular candidates.

The MMA urges the militant groups in Jammu and Kashmir to abjure violence, thus permit steady progress towards normalcy within the state and resumption of talks between India and Pakistan for a political settlement which alone would bring peace, progress and happiness to the long-suffering people.

The MMA also requests the State Government expeditiously to inquire into the whereabouts of the missing and make ex-gratia payment to the next-of-kin of those who are not traceable for long as well as of the victims of custodial killings or crossfire.

The MMA has taken note of the flaws in the Bodoland Territorial Council Bill in respect of the representation of the non-Bodos in the Council, inclusion of non-Bodo majority border villages within Bodoland and protection of their legitimate economic and social interests. It feels that the Agreement and the Bill contain seeds of instability and advises the State Government to ensure harmonious and cooperative relations between the Bodos and non-Bodos within the Bodoland.

The MMA considers it imperative following the recent judgement of the Supreme Court that the right to vote and the right to contest election to the legislatures and the PRI’s be declared Fundamental Rights so that democratic institutions are not under-mined on one excuse or the other and the weaker sections of the people are not deprived of their basic democratic rights.

The MMA considers the proposed trifurcation of the Punjab Wakf Board a risky venture which may accelerate unlawful alienation of wakf properties under political pressure to the detriment of the Muslim community, advises the Muslim communities in Punjab and Haryana in particular, to form State and District Wakf Protection Committees, constantly to monitor the situation of the local wakfs and requests the Central Wakf Council to monitor the interests of the community and intervene, as and when necessary.

The MMA expresses its indignation at the fraternization by the visiting Pakistani leader Maulana Fazlur Rahman with the Sangh Parivar which has never concealed its ideological and social hostility to the Muslim community and has persistently engaged in denigration of Islam, the Quran and the Holy Prophet.

The MMA regrets the slow progress towards restoration of the sovereignty and independence of Iraq and calls for immediate withdrawal of all occupation forces and transfer of power to an interim government, representative of all sections and regions of Iraq, to be installed by the UN.

The MMA denounces the construction of security walls by Israel within the Arab occupied territories as an unmistakable evidence of its intention to maintain its illegal settlements and thus reduce the proposed State of Palestine to a mockery.

Sd/- Syed Shahabuddin
ALL INDIA MUSLIM MAJLIS-e-MUSHAWARAT
N-44, Abul Fazal Enclave, Jamia Nagar, New Delhi - 110 025 Phone: 2632 6780 Fax: 2632 7346  Email: muslim@del3.vsnl.net.in q