HVK Archives: Young Muslims for pressure group, not party
Young Muslims for pressure group, not party - The Asian Age
Yusuf Jameel
()
6 April 1997
Title : Young Muslims for pressure group, not party
Author : Yusuf Jameel
Publication : The Asian Age
Date : April 6, 1997
A group of young Muslim politicians and activists have decided to
set up a pressure group to force the Centre and state governments
to resolve the issues concerning the minority community.
The group met here last week to work out modalities and observed
that though the various national parties were paying only "lip
service" to Muslims, there was no need to launch a new political
party to unite the members of the largest minority community.
Instead, they decided to form a pressure group to press for issues
such as the reconstruction of the Babri Masjid, release of a large
number of Muslims still in detention under the repealed Tada and
the implementation of the Gujral Committee report on Urdu language.
Those who attended the meeting include Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the naib
Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid, Zafaryab Jeelani, Rahat Mehmood
Chaudhary, Azani Khan, Javed Habib and Muhammad Afzal. Members at
the meeting felt that Muslims were a divided lot and were being
used by different political parties and groups to serve their own
ends.
"What is needed is to unite them to become a force to reckon with
and this can be done without launching a new political party," Syed
Ahmed said.
He said the people who are already working in different political
parties and groups but are "sincere enough" to work for the benefit
of the community would be included in the pressure group.
He also referred to the Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, an advisory
group of various Muslim organisations and leaders set up several
years ago, but said it had failed to deliver in the changing
situation.
Sources said the group calling itself "younger leadership" also
felt that the call by Islamic radicals working under the banner of
Milli Parliament to launch a Muslim political party for "unfinished
Islamic agenda" was unnecessary.
"These things don't work, in this country where all of us belonging
to different communities and political thoughts have to live
together," said one of the leaders. He felt the Milli Parliament
call would only harm Muslim interests.
Meanwhile, Milli Parliament activists held a religious session at
Hubli in Karnataka recently and cleared the bill for the
establishment of the new national party.
The session also witnessed the release of the Muslim Manifesto, a
radical religious document which regarded the last 50 years as
"lost years" for the country's Muslim population.
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