[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.


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