Act Manmohan, act

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

The revelations of Justice Sachar Committee Report presenting the educational and economic condition of Muslims are so alarming that social scientists, activists and leaders, Muslim and Non-Muslim, as well as the Union Government seem quite concerned about the situation the second largest chunk of Indian population has been pushed to as they are talking about the ways and means to uplift the community members. The suggestions include opening schools in Muslim concentration areas, granting scholarships to Muslims pupils, overcoming dropout rates and bringing the community within the purview of reservation in higher educational institutions and job opportunities in government and private sectors. Urdu newspapers this week presents this general trend with the sole exception of R.S.S. and its sister organisations that are bent upon opposing any government move to ease the life of Muslims.

Now when the much-talked-about report has been submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the 25 crore strong Indian Muslims along with justice-loving humanity at large have to wait and watch how fast, how fair and how just the government implements the recommendations of the committee without beating about the bush.

The Urdu biweekly Dawat, in its column Jaiza published on November 16, presents the views of different distinguished personalities on “Sachar Committee Report: Realities and Possibilities�.

Talking to the biweekly from his sickbed at Apollo Hospital in the capital, former Prime Minister V.P. Singh said, “Whenever the government talks about the (welfare of) Muslims, the BJP men make so much hue and cry that the common man begins to think that the government is really going to give special privilege to Muslims while the reality is otherwise… The Government should exhibit strong will power to implement the (recommendations of) Sachar Committee. I am with this report. In my opinion Muslims should pressurise the government through democratic means to get their problems solved.�

Veteran journalist Kuldip Nayar also agrees that some people do not let the Muslims do better. Though he is against giving reservation to Muslims on the basis of community or religion, Mr Nayar believes that the government should “take immediate corrective measures and prepare a plan for educational, economic and social uplift of Muslims. Without the keen attention of the government it is not possible.�

Maulana Obaidullah Khan Azmi, M.P., calls upon the government to take just and unbiased measures with clear and express intent to ameliorate the situation.

“Now the time has come to give Muslims reservation in government jobs, educational institutions and in every other field of development. Not only this, reservation for Muslims in Parliament, Legislative Assemblies and Municipal Corporations is a must, for it is quite difficult to overcome the backwardness of Muslims without giving them reservation. As for anti-Muslim bureaucracy, if the rulers are honest and justice-loving and are adamant to do something, government directives can be implemented….

“In south India communalism and bias is comparatively less. So the situation is different there. Every work is not for the government to do; we too have to do something. We should join hands together at least on issues which are common…. All representative Muslim organisations should form a board coalition to work for educational, social and economic advancement of Muslims and thereby put pressure on the government for resolution of Muslim problems and issues,� he suggested.

A number of other social scientists, MPs, journalists and activists talking to the biweekly are of the opinion that the government should show its guts and grit to sail across the Hindutva opposition to implementing the Sachar Committee Report, and make up the loss Muslims have suffered for decades together by providing reservation for them. They also advise Muslim organisations to chalk out their own plan for the betterment of Muslims as well as form a pressure group to pressurise the government to act in this regard in the real sense of the term.

In its editorial “Indian Muslims� the Awam (November 13) writes: “Of course there is bias in providing job opportunities but this does not mean that we stay back from taking part in competitions. When the wind is wild, we may make more concerted efforts to march ahead. So if Muslims, like other communities, have to progress then they will have to restore their lost position in the field of education. When there is the light of education, darkness will disappear.�

The Qaumi Awaz (November 14) carries the Urdu translation of an article “If I were a Muslim� first published in the Hindi daily Rashtriya Sahara. The writer, Raj Kishore, portrays a very sordid picture of Indian intelligence agencies in which Muslims are looked down upon with doubt and suspicion.

“If I were a Muslim, my blood would have boiled while going through the news that premier intelligence agencies in India do not consider Muslims trustworthy. A popular English weekly has revealed that there is not a single Muslim in the powerful intelligence agency working in foreign lands, RAW (Research and Analysis Wing). Like RAW, another powerful agency, National Technical Research Organisation also does not appoint a Muslim. In the aviation department of RAW, Aviation Research Centre, in 2000 a decision was almost taken to appoint the grandson of renowned scholar and freedom fighter Humayun Kabir but at the nick of time he was dropped out because he was a Muslim. There are about 10,000 officers working with RAW but there is not a single Muslim among them. That is, every Muslim is seen with doubt and suspicion that he might rebel against India. There are about 12,000 officers in Intelligence Branch (IB) but the number of Muslims among them is perhaps less than one per cent.

“If I were a Muslim, my blood would have also boiled to read that Muslims as well as Sikhs are not appointed in the two important agencies, Special Protection Group (SPG) and National Security Guard (NSG) which provide security for VIPs….

“Security agencies have been practising this policy of doubt and suspicion since 1969 (Sikhs have been included in this category since 1984)….

“On the basis of having been born in a Hindu family and having a particular association with the Hindu society, I feel more ashamed and sorry than any Muslim or Sikh to say that the mentality of Hindu society, which produced gems like Mahatma Gandhi, Bhagat Singh and Ambedkar, has fallen so sick that it does not consider about one-fourth population of the country trustworthy. Do we need to remind it that Gandhi was assassinated by a Hindu but it did not bring the entire Hindu society under doubt and suspicion? Only the people professing faith in a particular ideology were considered suspicious. But Muslims have been thrown into the valley of doubt and suspicion.�

In another development, the Inquilab (November 12) reports how the Hindu extremist organisation Shiv Sena is politicising an issue involving the police and Muslims in Bhiwandi. The report says that the question of building a police station on a waqf land near a mosque is an issue between Muslims and the police. But the Shiv Sena is trying to stoke communal fire in the town on the basis of this issue.

For details of the clash between the Muslims and police, see Urdu press roundup, July 12, 2006. This was also one of the issues raised by a delegation of 11 Muslim Members of Parliament during their meeting with Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh on September 16 last (See
Urdu press roundup, September 20, 2006).

On November 11 the Shiv Sena staged a dharna at Wanjarpatti Naka (Jawaharlal Chowk) in the town to demand restart of the building of a police station on the waqf land. They threatened that if the government failed to restart the construction work the party would take up this work.

Though they could not gather more than 200 people for the dharna, they left no stone unturned to spread communal hatred through their provocative speeches and slogans. While the dharna was going on, the time for Zuhr prayer struck and the muezzin called the Adhan. The participants of the dharna tried to overcome the Adhan call by their wild slogans.

November 17, 2006

How to bail out Indian Muslims?

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Discussion on the Justice Sachar Committee Report is going on. Political parties and organisations as well as individuals – Muslim and Non-Muslim, secular and ultranationalists – are expressing their views on the alarming social, educational and economic backwardness of Muslims. Some of them are urging the government to take effective measures to remove this backwardness preferably by declaring reservation for Muslims in educational institutions as well as job opportunities. Some others think that Muslims can empower themselves by their own efforts alone. Yet some others apprehend government usual inaction on the recommendations of the committee. But Hindutva outfits like the RSS and BJP are hell bent upon criticising the report and even attacking the person of Justice (retd.) Rajender Sachar, who headed the 7-member high level government panel.

In an edit-page article on “Muslim backwardness and reservation� in the Hindustan Express (November 19), A.N. Shibli holds the anti-Muslim government policies and Muslims themselves responsible for the present pitiable condition of Muslims, and discusses the question whether reservation is the only solution to Muslims woes.

“Some people say that the condition of Muslims will not improve unless they themselves turn sincere about it. There are also a number of people who opine that reservation is the only means to better the condition of Muslims. But making reservation possible for Muslims is not that easy. The distinguished personalities who have talked about reservation for Muslims include senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda. They are of the view that Muslims’ backwardness cannot be overcome without the provision of reservation for them. Moily has gone to the extent of saying that Muslims should be included in the category of other backward sections so that they may be given the facility of reservation if reservation for Muslims is not possible for the time being.�

Shibli then raises the most vital questions: Is reservation the only means to remove the backwardness of Muslims? And even if this is the only means, is it easy to implement reservation for Muslims?

The writer also questions the sincerity of the government at the centre about the betterment of Muslims. “Gathering information about the condition of Muslims and talking about reservation for them may be a well planned drama. We must keep in mind that the party which is talking about improving the condition of Muslims has ruled over the country for a long period. Why didn’t it care for Muslims earlier?�

In his article “The pitiable condition of Muslims in independent India� published in the Etemaad (November 23), Syed Waseem Ahmed also believes that the government will not be able to implement the Sachar Committee recommendations.

The Express (November 19) carries another article “What can Muslims do?� by Dr M. Ejaz Ali, president All India United Muslim Morcha. Ali dishes out an entirely new idea, which deserves consideration. On the worse-than-Dalit backwardness of Muslims, he says, “Sometimes it seems the entire scenario has been created under a definite planning... With the partition on the basis of religion, where communal forces made Muslims leave the country, the secular forces objected to this move, thinking that there were some benefits of letting the Muslims stay in the country. For example, in the days to come they might be exploited as vote bank by creating fear psychosis in them, and the seats rendered vacant by Dalits (as a result of their progress and advancement) might be filled by Muslims. The effect of this planning can be seen now.�

Ali then raises a billion dollar question: “During the 60 years of independent India when every section of society is marching towards progress, why are Muslims compelled to do the jobs left out by Dalits and live a worst than Dalit life?�

Ali avers that the religious restriction on Section 341 of the Constitution has played the most vital role in implementing this plan. “Along with minority status Muslims were given right to equality and freedom of religion as well as other facilities. But they were excluded from the reservation guaranteed in Section 341 of the Constitution. After all, why?�

He traces the reply in the pre-partition history of Muslims in India: “Most of the Muslims belong to the Dalit ancestors and even today are known with the titles showing their professions. Owing to co-professional and co-titleholders, when provision for scheduled castes reservation was created in 1935 these professional Muslims were very much included in it. About 85% of Muslim population was thus entitled to reservation. In the beginning Muslims belonging to about 13 low castes in Maharashtra did benefit from it…. Muslim Dalits fell victim to injustice when it was included in paragraph 3 of the Presidential Declaration 1950 that the beneficiaries of reservation for Scheduled Caste must be a Hindu. This condition was inserted only to exclude backward Muslims from this category. For, Indian Christians were already excluded from it right from the beginning, the population of Buddhists was almost nil, and despite the condition of being Hindu the Dalit Sikhs continued to benefit from Scheduled Caste reservation. It was under the pressure built by Master Tara Singh that Sikhs were also formally included in 1956…. The irony is that with the issuance of a government order in 1959 another condition of converting to Hinduism in order to avail the reservation was imposed on already excluded backward Muslims. This condition is still continuing. The Presidential Declaration 1950 and the government order 1959 both stand in sharp contrast with the secular spirit of the Constitution of India. But when the planning is anti-Muslim then what can secularism, democracy or constitution do?�

Ali further reveals: “The matter of concern is that such a big conspiracy was hatched but the then Muslim leaders did not make it an issue while the Father of Constitution Dr (BR) Ambedkar raised his voice against this violation of right, and considering such an order ultra vires got a resolution adopted in a meeting of the Constitution Drafting Committee held on 23.04.1949 to remove paragraph 3 from the draft of Presidential Declaration 1950. But when on 26.01.1950 the Constitution was finally presented to the nation this paragraph 3 was found there in Section 341(2) of the Constitution. And no one knows how it could be included in the Constitution.�

The writer urges the Muslims to realise this deep conspiracy continuing right from 1950 and to get united on demanding an amendment in Section 341 leaving other issues aside so that the anti-Muslim forces may not achieve the ultimate end of this conspiracy.

In his article “Even our backwardness doesn’t suit (them)?� published in the Inquilab on November 23 and reproduced in the Express the very next day, Maulana Muhammad Asrarul Haque Qasmi presents how after the presentation of Sachar Committee Report, Justice Rajender Sachar has become a thorn in the flesh of Hindutva, contrasts the ill mentality of the Rashtrawadis with the patience and serenity Muslims have displayed even in the face of very unpleasant situations, and knocks at the conscience of the authorities concerned to make concerted efforts to uplift Muslims by giving them what is long overdue instead of shedding mere crocodile tears.

“Communal writers have relinquished even the Indian culture and civilization. They are calling Justice Sachar a favourite of Sonia Gandhi, the Jinnah of modern India, etc… this is a dangerous trend which can cause irreparable damage to the country. This is also tantamount to defamation of justice. Justice Sachar is a retired judge but his status and standing (in society) and his past services summon due respect to him in stead of having differences on his report, and his defamation should be taken as the defamation of justice itself,� Maulana Qasmi writes.

In an article in the RSS organ Panchjanya weekly, says the Maulana, Ishwaran Namboodri uses a very foul language while analysing the Sachar Committee Report: “Have some separatists prepared it (the report) or is it the manifesto of pre-partition Muslim League or the propaganda material of Pakistan television?�

The Maulana adds: “Calling the report baseless, dangerous and anti-nation, the writer says that the committee has exaggerated the mere stray cases.…�

Maulana Qasmi says “it is the responsibility of the government that it make the Sachar Committee Report public and then implement the recommendations of the committee without any waste of time.�

In a letter in the Rashtriya Sahara (November 24) Yusuf Rampuri raises apprehensions about the implementation of Sachar committee recommendations. He says: “After the revelations of Sachar Committee Report the question ‘what to do to bail out the Muslims from the present condition’ is being discussed. There is no way-out other than chalking out a comprehensive strategy and special schemes for Muslims and giving them reservation. But will all this be done easily? Will the government start working on war footing to emancipate Muslims? Will effective plans be devised for them? Will they be given reservation?�

Speaking on the Sachar Committee report, former chairman National Commission for Minorities Professor Tahir Mahmood said the real problem is that of “social insensitivity and government inaction� so far as Muslim problems are concerned, reports the Akhbar-e-Mashriq of November 19.

The Mashriq of the same date editorially challenges the government saying it is the real test for the government. “The Congress should get rid of exploiting Muslims as vote bank. It is undoubtedly a hard time for Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Let us see how well they do in this test.�

November 26, 2006

[photo: Justice Rajindar presented the Report of the High Level Committee on Status of Muslims to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 17 November 2006. Between them can be seen Dr. Syed Zafar Mahmood, OSD and Joint Secretary to the Government of India]

Muslims give full vent to their feelings of deprivation

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

Since the extracts of Justice Sachar Committee Report leaked through a TV channel and an English newspaper the other day, Urdu writers, journalists and editors have been giving full vent to their feelings of Muslims’ deprivation in education and job opportunities and willing suspension of equity and justice in dealing with Muslim affairs. These writings range right from mere complain against and criticism of government policies affecting the community to vibrant suggestions about how best to bail Muslims out of the quagmire they have been thrown.

The Rashtriya Sahara (November 5) editorially terms the prevailing Muslim predicament as the natural corollary of the jiggery-pokery being practised by political parties since independence. It laments that on one hand the constitutional privilege of reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has yielded the desired result while on the other Muslims have been continuing as victims of educational and economic backwardness despite the efforts being made to better the situation for over half a century.

“What happens is that no sooner the government announces certain measures to be taken to overcome the educational and economic backwardness of Muslims than hardliner communal Hindu organisations like R.S.S., Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and B.J.P. start raising much ado the country over about Muslims being appeased to score political ends…. As a result Muslims, who form the second largest chunk of population in the country, have been lying deep into the dark cavern of backwardness for the last 50 years.…�

“The row the communal parties would create on making Sachar Committee recommendations public is a matter of the days to come. But as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced in a meeting of State Minority Commissioners in New Delhi on Thursday that the minority commission would be granted constitutional status and its rights also be increased, these communal parties have become active once again and their intent and object is to put hurdles in the way of any measure being or to be taken by the government for the betterment of Muslims. Though Prime Minister has hoped that the Bill to make National Commission for Minorities a constitutional institution would be passed in the summer session of Parliament and those causing harm to welfare initiative be dealt with firmly yet the bitter experience tells us that the government will not only have to take a very firm stand but to deal with the destructive elements putting obstacles in this noble task with an iron hand so that the present efforts being made by the government may not go the way the efforts made earlier have gone.�

In the same issue of the Sahara Muhammad Nayyar Azam of Department of Islamic Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi informs the reading public that a delegation led by Muhammad Tahir Khan, Member Lok Sabha, recently submitted a memorandum demanding from the Government to shun dual policy while providing job opportunities for Muslims.

Shahidul Islam’s edit-page article entitled “Mr Manmohan! 25 crore Muslims owe a cogent reply� in the Hindustan Express of November 4 (later reproduced in the Inquilab) and Ahmad Javed’s edit-page article entitled “The doors of army closed for Muslims and Dalits?� in the Express of November 5 also present the same feelings of unrest and anger of Muslims on their continued deprivation and discrimination against them.

Unique protest in Malegaon

The Inquilab and the Express of November 11 report a unique protest lodged by Malegaon Muslims against the attitude of investigating agencies towards selective detention of Muslim youth for the Malegaon blasts. During the protest the protesters donned the same type of face cover as the police personnel make Muslim youth wear following their detention. They also tied black badges to their arms. The report says that perhaps they wanted to convey a message thereby to the administration that in the eyes of investigating agencies they all were terrorists. Following the Friday prayers on November 10 the Muslims staged a dharna at Hamidia Masjid and Bada Qabristan. They have also given a call of total strike in Malegaon on November 14.

In his edit-page article entitled “Maharashtra police is telling lies�, Hasan Kamal, in his celebrated column Muhasiba in the Sahara (November 4), reveals the white lies of Maharashtra police in investigating into the September 8 Malegaon blasts.

“Maharashtra police is leaving no stone unturned to prove by hook or by crook that the Malegaon blasts were carried out by Muslims. The police is telling white lies; but it is a surprise that now media is not advancing any arguments nor is ready to entertain any arguments as to how Muslims could explode the bombs as a result of which the majority of casualties is Muslim….

“This out and out biased dealing of police in Malegaon is causing unrest and resentment to the public… The people of Malegaon are feeling, and rightly so, that the police wants to prove anyhow that extremist Hindus can never be involved in these blasts or for that matter in any other destructive activities in the country. This assumption is entirely wrong…. The protest of Malegaon Muslims against these excesses is justified and the way the protest has been launched is very proper and suitable. The Muslims of Malegaon belonging to every section and every sect recently submitted a memorandum to the District Magistrate to express their vent and anger in a democratic manner. Now it is the duty of Maharashtra government to see to it that the undue harassment of Muslims is stopped forthwith. However one positive aspect of these circumstances is that owing at least to these disquieting things a sense of unity is taking roots in the rank and file of Muslims. The police lies have got them united. We take it in the right earnest.�

The Dawat (November 7) reports an Eid Milan programme organised by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind at its headquarters in which Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Christian and Dalit religious leaders as well as a number of dignitaries and diplomats of various countries participated. The report cites Jamaat Ameer Dr. M. Abdul Haq Ansari saying in his presidential speech: “On one hand the Prime Minister and the UPA Chairperson are consistently promising to adopt just and fair attitude towards Muslims and on the other deprivations of Muslims and injustices rather excesses against them are going on even in the States ruled by their own party or UPA. People are boggled at what hurdles are there for the government at the centre to issue directives at least to these States to effect the desired change in their attitude towards the Muslims.�

SC directive on Srikrishna Commission report

Urdu dailies of November 5 report the Supreme Court directive to Maharashtra government to file a statement on implementation of the recommendations of Srikrishna Commission Report on post-Babri Masjid demolition killings of innocent people, mostly Muslims, with some police personnel hand in glove with the rioters.

In a front-page story the Rashtriya Sahara reports: Following the Mumbai High Court indictment of Mumbai police in Khwaja Yunus case, the Supreme Court has told the Maharashtra government to submit its ATR (action taken report) on the biased police action in Sulaiman Osman Bakery, Hari Masjid and Pratibha Nagar areas, on implementation or otherwise of Srikrishna Commission Report, and on the action taken against 30 erring police officials and their present service status. The government has to submit its statement latest by December 5, 2006 when the court is to hear this case next.
The court issued this directive on a petition filed by Advocate Shakeel Ahmed on behalf of an NGO, Nirbhay Bano Andolan in 2002.

The Aurangabad Times, in a UNI report on the development, adds: While talking to presspersons after the apex court order, petitioner Shakeel Ahmed said instead of taking any action against the erring police officials the government has promoted them.

November 11, 2006

Muslims need to do well as few firsts greet them

Urdu press roundup
By IndianMuslims.info Staff

The extracts of Justice Sachar Committee findings that have made headlines in the Press have made Muslim writers and journalists as well as leaders and social activists sit up and plan to change the situation for the better. Opinion articles, news analyses and letters appearing in Urdu newspapers last week not only pointed out the various reasons of Muslims’ educational and economic backwardness, their lesser representation in public and private sectors than their presence behind the bars but also turned the searchlight inward.

Analysing the situation prevailing in Muslim society, the Urdu biweekly Dawat (November 1) editorially opines that Muslims have been gradually losing the very sense of backwardness and that this is a very dangerous trend. It further says that it is necessary to enliven this sense in order to march forward.

“Only economic and even educational uplift is not enough. Unless and until Muslims follow the universal principles of success, the much desired advancement of Muslims cannot be achieved,� it concludes.

The same issue of Dawat carries a thought-provoking article on “Educational Preferences of Indian Muslims� by Saiyid Hamid, renowned educationist, former Vice Chancellor Aligarh Muslim University and present Chancellor Jamia Hamdard.

Dr Hamid laments that Indian Muslims did not take education on preferential basis for over half a century. One major cause of it, he says, is that they had to pass through very critical times when their life and property, dignity and honour were all at stake. After Independence and Partition they stood deprived of what you can call either dil-i-zinda or zauq-i-hayat (zeal and enthusiasm to lead life with head held high). But the writer does not seem to accept it as a valid excuse for their near indifference to education, as he says:

“It is unfortunate that we did not take education seriously nor did we adopt the path of competition; no step we took to awake from deep slumber… we shut our eyes from the amazing changes taking place in the world…. As a result, despite the independence, democracy and secularism of India, the largest minority in the country became the centre of deprivations….

“The illiteracy of Muslims got spurred by the attitude the Government adopted towards them. The last census in the pre-independence days was conducted in 1941. Till then the census figures used to be published religion-wise. No sooner India got independence than this source of accountability and progress was abandoned. Muslims fell prey to the census negligence. Publication of religion-wise educational statistics was stopped and Muslims could not know how far backward they went educationally during the last 50 years. The irony is that the desired information was, and is even now, available in the office of Registrar General. This spell was broken in 2001 when religion-wise facts and figures were published. Thus the community was deprived of the golden opportunity of reform with which they would have benefited if the religion-wise information had been published. Who is after all responsible for this great loss?�

Dr. Hamid not only holds certain government policies responsible for the sorry state of Muslim affairs but criticises the Ummatic behaviour of Muslims: General suspension of will to make tireless strivings led Muslim students to abandon difficult subjects. They opted for Arabic, Persian, Urdu and arts subjects instead of science, mathematics and to some extent English as well.

He has drawn the attention of Muslims towards health as well as the various branches of learning, on which depends the progress of a community. He has also warned them against letting education go lopsided. That is, he stands for harmonious fusion of modern and religious education.

Another eye-opener is Seema Chishti’s edit-page article on “Indian Muslims: Fewer in Jobs than behind the Bars� published in the Hindustan Express of November 2. The article carries three tables showing Muslim representation in government jobs and judiciary and their presence in prisons in proportion to their population in the various states. The figures are based on Justice Sachar Committee findings.

One table presents the figures of 12 states: Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Average Muslim population in these states together is 15.4 per cent. And their representation in government jobs is only 6.4 per cent.

Another table presents Muslim representation in judiciary in 15 states. In this table three states viz. Bihar, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu from the previous table are missing, and in their place six states viz. Jammu & Kashmir, Uttaranchal, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Chattisgarh are included. In these 15 states Muslim employees are only 8 per cent while District Sessions judges are only 2.7 per cent.

The third table presents the presence of Muslims in prisons in eight states: Assam, Kerala, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. In these eight states 23.4 per cent jail inmates are Muslims.

“These figures show that political parties entice Muslims only because they need their votes. These parties do talk of providing them with social protection but they stay back while providing them with jobs…

“Biased mentality can be gauged with the fact that in government jobs, public sector and different judicial services the presence of Muslims is very low but in jails their number is very high…. This is a fact that the biggest cause of the alarming number of Muslims in prisons is the biased role of police. Picking Muslim youth from their homes and throwing them behind the bars under false and concocted cases is nothing new.�

5 Muslims in Team India

The Etemaad of October 31 reports that it is first time in the 80-year history of Indian cricket that five Muslim players have been included in Team India. The newly elected Selection Committee of B.C.C.I headed by former test cricketer Dileep Wengsarkar on October 30 named a 16-member team for the scheduled South Africa one-day series. Fast bowlers Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Manaf Pathan and batsmen Muhammad Kaif and Waseem Jafar are on this team.

The 5-column report presents the details of the achievements made in the history of Indian cricket as yet by these Muslim bowlers and batsmen.

First Muslim woman judge in Patna HC

This Hyderabad-based Urdu daily on October 29 reports the appointment of first Muslim woman judge in Patna High Court. Nawabzadi Sheema Ali Khan belongs to the well-known Nawab family of Awadh and Patna. She is the granddaughter of Nawab Syed Muhammad Mehdi and daughter of Justice Syed Sarwar Ali, Acting Chief Justice (Retd.) of Patna High Court and Lok Ayukt (Retd.) Bihar. On his maternal side, she is the maternal granddaughter of H.H. Sir Syed Raza Ali Khan, Nawab Rampur, after whose name is running the famous Raza Library of Rampur. She is the wife of Nawabzada Safdar Ali Khan, Advocate, who had been chairman of Bihar Shia Waqf Board, Patna. After doing her M.A. in Psychology, Sheema Ali Khan did her law course from Patna, and later started practising as a lawyer under Tara Kant Jha, Advocate. She was declared Senior Advocate in 2005.

November 3, 2006