Community Round-Up

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has decided to approach the central government to get its help to reconstruct the religious shrines destroyed in the Gujarat communal carnage in 2002. The move comes after the Narendra Modi government in Gujarat turned a deaf ear to the Commission’s repeated requests on the issue. Nearly 526 mosques and other Muslim shrines were either partly or completely destroyed following communal violence that rocked the state, for months after the Godhra train fire in February 2002. Of them, 294 have already been reconstructed or repaired, but without any assistance from the state government, despite chief minister Narendra Modi’s promise of financial aid in the wake of the violence. The Commission has already started identifying NGOs in Gujarat that can take up the responsibility of reconstructing the remaining 232 religious shrines. The NCM had first written to the Modi government on April 8, 2002, and several times after that. But the only response it got was a letter dated September 9, 2006, which only tried to mislead the Commission.

Muslim popula-tion in India’s most populated state of Uttar Pradesh might be over 25 per cent of the total population, yet the community’s participation in government jobs is abysmal. The results of the state upper subordinate services exam, conducted by the UP Public Service Commission has jolted the Muslims of the state. The results were published on January 10, 2007. Out of 182 candidates selected for the state top jobs, only one Muslim boy could figure in the list. Mohammad Masud Alam Khan who figured in the list of successful candidates got the position of Sub Registrar in the Registration Department. UP Public Service Commission had conducted written tests for the services between December 19, 2005 to January 3, 2006. 2,800 candidates appeared for the test. Out of them, 531 were selected for the interview and finally 182 candidates were finalised. In 1990, Mohammad Masud was selected for the IAS.

The Municipal Council of Delhi has named the park near Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin, after Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib. The plaque for the new name of the park, located at the junction of Lodhi Road and the Zakir Hussain Road, diagonally opposite Delhi Public School, was unveiled by Haryana Governor, A. R. Kidwai on December 27, 2006, the 210th birth anniversary of Ghalib. Lt. Governor of Delhi, B. L. Joshi and Delhi Mayor Farhad Suri also attended the ceremony. Ghalib’s mausoleum is also located nearby in Basti Hazrath Nizamuddin. The speakers paying tribute to the poet said Ghalib enriched the cultural life of Delhi.

The central government has sought the views of the Reserve Bank and the Indian Banks Association (IBA) on ways and means to increase flow of credit to minorities. Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram stated that the Prime minister’s New-15 Point Programme for the Welfare of Minorities talks of more flow of credit to minorities. The Finance Ministry officials say that no extra funds are being asked for minorities, but the government demands that they should get a share of loans under the priority sector lending by banks.

Millat Masajid Directory, a compendium of 533 mosques in Bangalore city, Bangalore rural and Kolar districts was released on December 24, 2006 by Al-Ameen movement founder, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed Khan at a function here. It records 533 mosques, their location, addresses, phone number and the institutions such as schools, madrassas and baitulmals attached with them. The foreword has been contributed by Syed Tahsin Ahmed, chief executive officer of the Karnataka Board of Wakfs. It has been brought out by Millat Management Society of India. Secretary, Prof. Salam Musheer says it took five years to collect data in the two districts. He said directories for others districts would be out soon.

A meeting of prominent Muslim educational institution builders and Muslim intellectuals would be held here on February 3 and 4 to discuss the issues and problems pertaining to education of the community. It is being held under the auspices of 3R Foundation. The initiative has come from several business tycoons, educationists and industrialists. The objective of the proposed meeting is to network education providers for detailed consultation, resource sharing and joint action for protection of rights. For more details, contact Syed Iqbal Hasnain on kadri@vsnl.com

Jewellers in Pune have withdrawn their ban on attending to women customers who wear veils over their faces. The Jewellers Association in Pune, about 170 km from Mumbai, introduced the ban last month after a spate of thefts by people wearing veils.


But they had been advised by police not to implement the ban for fear of offending people’s religious sentiments. The Jewellers Associa-tion said it was not targeting any particular religion, but taking an essential security measure. One store suffered a loss of Rs three lakh and another, Rs four lakh. CCTV footage showed burqa-clad women stealing gold. “The jewellers had taken adequate care by putting up CCTV cameras, but the police were helpless as they could not identify the women,” said association president, Fatehchand Ranka from Pune. After surveillance cameras failed to identify two burqa-clad individuals who robbed leading jewellery stores in Pune, the trade in the city had decided to put restrictions on customers who come wearing the attire.


The Maharashtra Jewellers’ Association had written to the state home minister to allow jewellers in Pune to put up a board outside their shops informing them of the ‘no burqa’ policy. To press for their demand, Pune jewellers had even decided to close their stores on December 29, 2006 and also stop dealing with women who walk in cloaked in a burqa from January 1, 2007, onwards. But public outcry forced them to relent.


Secretary of All India Ulema Council, Maulana Zaheer Abbas Rizvi, justified the jewellers’ decision and said it stemmed from a commercial motive and did not reflect religious bias.


“They do not seem to be against any religion, but are acting purely on business interests. Given the losses they suffered, they have every right to protect their valuables in their premises. They want to know who walks into their shop and that’s not asking for much,” he said. Chairman of Maharashtra State Minorities Commission, Naseem Siddiqui said the decision hurt religious sentiments and should not be accepted by the government.