[Reader-list] National Workshop of Muslim NGOs

[arshad amanullah]

National Workshop of Muslim NGOs
By A U Asif



New Delhi, December 24  A day before yesterday it was December 22, the
date when 'Ram Lalla' was installed in 1949 in the sanctum sanctorum
of Babri Masjid at Ayodhya. But unlike the years before December 6,
1992, there was no protest meeting in the national capital or
elsewhere. Rather, about 300 delegates from different parts of the
country were engaged at the 3-day national workshop of Muslim NGOs
being held here at the India Islamic Cultural Centre (IICC) to discuss
the development of the Muslim community as a whole.

This was the marked difference in the pre and post-Babri Masjid
demolition days. Having full faith in the country's judiciary, the
Muslim community has left the case of Babri Masjid to the courts to
decide, and then have remained busy in talking about their
development. The recommendations of Sachar Committee have no doubt
made them more serious in taking up such issues. Since the submission
of Sachar Report to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on November 17, a
number of discussions, symposia, seminars and meetings are being held
in this connection in different parts of the country.

The New Delhi-based think tank, Institute of Objective Studies (IOS),
has specially chalked out a plan, keeping particularly the
implementation aspect of the Sachar Report in view. It has already
held a serious discussion on January 20 last. Dr Ausaf Ahmad, scholar,
economist and Editor of Mutalle'at, published by IOS, presented his
exposition. Then the presence of Dr Abu Saleh Shariff, a member of
Sachar Committee, had made the discussion not only interesting but
very fruitful. IOS would hold a number of discussions before a
national workshop on the issue to be organised on January 20, 2007 at
the IICC.

The 3-day national workshop of Muslim NGOs, convened by the Movement
for Empowerment of Muslim Indians (MOEMIN), began on December 22 with
the thought-provoking and assurance-making address by Union Minister
Jaipal Reddy. While saying that the seeds of the Renaissance were sown
by the Muslim scholars as asserted by late M N Roy in his book
"Historical Role of Islam", he averred that it was high time the
Muslim community in this country take up the case of its own
development. Besides Jaipal Reddy, two other Union ministers---Vyalar
Ravi and Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi---too graced the 3-day workshop.
Vyalar Ravi refuted the allegation of BJP that Sachar Report meant for
appeasement of the Muslim community. He said: "I was present at the
National Development Council meeting where the Prime Minister made
some remarks about the community's development. I fail to understand
as to why a controversy is made over it. What PM had said was simply
about uplifting a community, now already found backward by a high
level committee (HLC)."

After discussing the role of NGOs in detail for two days, the
participants would finalise recommendations today and submit it to the
government.

According to the MOEMIN general secretary and National Integration
Council member Naved Hamid, this was the first time that a large
number of Muslim NGOs from different parts of the country gathered to
discuss the development of the community at large. The participants
included two members of the Sachar Committee---Saiyid Hamid and Dr S
Zafar Mahmood---;Gandhian and Member of Parliament Ms Nirmala
Deshpande; National Commission for Minorities chairman Hamid Ansari;
former minister of Andhra Pradesh M Bashiruddin Babu Khan; former
Jamia Hamdard Vice Chancellor  Prof Alauddin Ahmed and Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind Naib Ameer Maulana Mohmmed Shafi Moonis; educationist and
entrepreneur A R Shervani; columnist Zafar Agha; Mankind Educational
Trust Malerkotla chairman Jameelur Rahman; Rohilkhand Welfare Trust
secretary Nazim Baig; N M E Society Mumbai chairman Mutva Haidar;
Malegaon Arts & Cultural Association president Siraj Ahmed Dular;
Kerala National Assessmant & Accreditation Council coordinator Prof H
Badarudeen Rawther; and Muslim Empowerment Forum Gaya secretary
Tameemuddin Humble.    .

The presence of a number of women representing different NGOs
highlighted the workshop. The women delegates included Ms Qamrunnisa
Begum, w/o internationally renowned business tycoon B S Abdur Rahman
from Chennai; Dr Ms Asma Zehra from Muslim Women Development Society,
Hyderabad; Dr Ms Najma Sultana from MANUU, Hyderabad; Ms Asna Jeelani
from a women organization of Hyderabad; Ms Rana Khatoon, president,
Rajiv Gandhi Educational Charitable Trust, Mau (UP); Dr Ms Subayya
Dawood, Principal, Melvisharam College (Tamilnadu); Ms Zaibunnisa
Begum from an NGO of Kolkata; and Ms Sufiya Saqib Khan, Principal,
Karamat Public School, Lucknow.
(http://fanawatch.com/index.php?do=news_view&id=195)

arshad amanullah
34,masihgarh,
jamia nagar
new delhi-25.