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 Indian Muslims protest against the siege of Gaza
The
Milli Gazette
30
January 2008
New
Delhi: Indian Muslim organizations staged a dharna
(sit-in) yesterday at Jantar Mantar near the Indian Parliament against the
blockade of Gaza Strip by Israel. All big organizations were represented
by their leaders and activists. The initiative was taken by the All
India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Indian
Muslim organizations.
Speaker
after speaker condemned the inhuman siege of Gaza Strip by the occupying
power. They also condemned the silence of the Indian government over this
unprecedented cruel event in recent peace time history. SQR Ilyas, editor
of Afkar-e Milli Urdu magazine who conducted the event, said that the
Gaza
blockade is a challenge to all humanity and a clear defiance of the
international law.
India
as a world leader must play its role to end the blockade and ensure
justice to the Palestinians.
Dr
Zafarul-Islam Khan, President of the All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat,
said that while we forcefully condemn the Israeli siege and the Indian
government’s silence, we realize that the problems of Gaza will not be
over if the siege was lifted as occupation and expulsion of millions of
Palestinians who are now living as refugees in umpteen camps even inside
Gaza and West Bank, are the real problems. The United Nations, which
created
Israel
, must see to it that its resolutions for solving the Palestinian problem
are implemented in letter and spirit.
Picture:
SQR Ilyas, editor
of Afkar-e Milli Urdu magazine conducting the event
Dr
Tasleem Rahmani, president of the Muslim Political Council, held the UN
responsible for the siege and the miseries of the people of
Palestine
.
Maulana
Zeeshan Hidayati, Presidnet of the Safinatul Hidaya Trust, said that it is
a matter of shame for
India
that it is unable to take a moral stand on the
Gaza
siege. He called upon the people to stand up so that no one is able to do
injustice to anyone.
Shahid
Siddiqi, member of Parliament and general secretary of Samajwadi Party,
questioned why
India
is standing beside the tormentors who have crossed all limits of
injustice. He said that
India
is supporting Taslima Nasreen in the name of free speech but has no guts
to support the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi who has been hounded out by the
American Jews from the institute he had founded in the
US
. Siddiqi said that
India
is benefiting from the Arab and Muslim countries while supporting
Israel
. He said that the Indo-Israeli relations are against the interests of
India
.
Former
diplomat and parliamentarian Syed Shahabuddin said that our real complaint
is against the government of
India
which has changed our traditional pro-Palestine policy. Our relations with
Israel
today are so deep that our tongues are unable to speak the truth. He said
that the people in
Gaza
are being punished because they voted for Hamas during the last elections.
People who sing the song of democracy day in and and day out are trying to
eliminate the democratically-elected government of Hamas. They have
stopped all aid to
Palestine
and have set President Abbas of Fateh upon the
government of Hamas. President Abbas, Shahabuddin said, had no right to
dismiss the government of Hamas under the Palestinian constitution while
the Palestinian Parliament has the authority to dismiss President Abbas
but it is not being convened because it has Hamas majority. He said that
the Israeli satellite which
India
launched recently aims at helping
Israel
and the
US
in their war against
Iran
. The real aim of
Israel
in
Palestine
is to expel the Palestinians from their homeland.
Professor
Akhtarul Wasey of Jamia
Millia Islamia said that when the new government under UPA came
to power, we thought that a new beginning will be made but what we have
seen during the past four years is that our government is become part of
the international conspiracy against Islam and Muslims. He said that the
Middle East will not witness peace until Palestinians get back their
homeland including
Jerusalem
. He said that we are not ready to abandon our support to the Palestinians
and we will continue to fight against the injustice to which the
Palestinians are subjected.
Dr
Shahnaz Fatima, an academic and activist from
Hyderabad
, said that the world’s biggest democracy does not know what is
democracy. She said that
Israel
was a great supporter of the apartheid regime in
South Africa
and later used that experience and technology against the Palestinians and
now
India
is importing the same. She said that the techniques used in Abu Ghreib and
Afghanistan
were perfected by
Israel
in
Palestine
.
Maulana
Asrarul Haq Qasmi, chairman of the Milli Wa Ta’leemi Foundation, said
that the champions of human rights are silent today in front of such a
complete blockade of 1.5 million people in an open prison. He said that
the Indian ethos rejects injustice.
We are ready to fight if this ethos is endangered. He said one is aghast
to see that our country is making friends with its enemies and making
enemies with its friends. He said that if you give milk to a snake today,
it will bite you tomorrow.
Text
of memorandum
Joint
Committee of Muslim Organizations
All-India
Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat Jamiat
Ulama-e Hind Jamaat-e Islami
Hind Kul Hind
Jamaat-e Ahl-e Hadees MOEMIN
Students Islamic Organisation of India Muslim
Political Council Majlis-e
Fikro Kul Hind Anjuman
Himayat-e Islam Majlis Ulama-e
Islam Milli Wa Ta'leemi
Foundation Shia Conference
Momin Conference Popular
Front of India Safinatul
Hidaya Trust Shah Waliullah
Institute The Milli Gazette
Afkar-e Milli
MEMORANDUM
Presented
to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of
India
and Hon’ble Minister of External Affairs,
India
at
the end of the dharna against
Gaza
blockade, at Jantar Mantar today
Respected
Sir,
The
Indian civil society, in general and Indian Muslims in particular, are
horrified by the unfolding events in the open air prison called
“Gaza”, housing 1.5 million people, which the Israeli occupying power
has condemned to slow death by imposing a complete siege since 20th
January 2008. This was the culmination of the policy of throttling
Gaza
into death unleashed by the occupying power since June 2007.
We
ask the Government of India, UN and world powers to immediately take steps
to lift the ever-tightening siege of
Gaza
by the Israeli occupation forces before it is too late. Patients are
already dying due to lack of medicines and prohibition on travel outside
even for medical attention. People will soon start dying due to lack of
food and other essentials.
We
note that the last electricity generation facility in Gaza was been shut
down on 21st January because of the Israeli denial of fuel and
all humanitarian aid while 70 percent of all Gazans are already jobless
due to this policy, all factories and workshops have been shuttered due to
lack of raw materials as a result of the continuing siege. We demand the
Indian Government to ask the UN Security Council to rise to its duty in
order to prevent a humanitarian crisis of proportions unseen in recent
times.
We
also note that the problem in
Gaza
is the 40-year old occupation and the rejection of the results of the free
and fair elections in January 2006 by
Israel
, Ramallah-based Authority and their western supporters. Moreover, 75
percent of the residents of
Gaza
are Palestinians made refugees by Israeli armed gangs in 1948. The blame
for Israeli war crimes is shared by the UN which created the Jewish State
in the first place and has since failed to force its own creation to
honour even a single UN resolution. Also to blame are the western forces
which blindly support the Israeli occupation and war crimes while blaming
the occupied and suppressed victims for using their natural and legitimate
right of resistance.
We
call upon the UN and world powers to move swiftly to lift the inhuman
siege of
Gaza
and also to solve the Palestinian problem by implementing the UN
resolutions in letter and spirit so that the ongoing suffering of the
Palestinian people since 1948 is brought to an end.
We
are horrified that the Government of India has failed to take notice of
the crushing siege aimed at humbling a brave people and has failed to
condemn the illegal actions by the occupying power which were condemned by
Prof. John Dugard, the UN rapporteur in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
in his official report to the UN on 18th January 2008 as a
“serious war crime” demanding the prosecution of the Israeli political
and military leaders responsible for it. Our government has instead
intensified its questionable relations with
Israel
by launching its intelligence satellite which will spy on countries
friendly to
India
. We demand immediate action by our own government and foreign powers,
especially the UN Security Council to intervene immediately to avert this
crisis manufactured by the Israeli occupation power.
We
have staged at sit-in near Parliament House at Jantar Mantar in
New Delhi
to demonstrate our solidarity with the oppressed people of
Gaza
, to protest against the shameless silence on part of our own government
and other world powers and to demand quick intervention to avert the
looming crisis of hitherto unseen proportions in peace times.
Joint
Committee of Muslim Organisations
c/o
All-India
Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat
New
Delhi
,
29 January 2008
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