Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Andhra Pradesh Muslim Quota Issue Majlis e ittehadul Muslimeen Party Statement

MiM Leader Akbaruddin Owaisi giving Speech in Nizamabad.


Statement by Akbaruddin Owaisi, MIM floor leader in the Assembly

One of the major promises made by the Congress on the eve of 2004 Assembly elections was to provide five percent reservations for Muslims in educational institutions and government jobs by including the community in the list of Backward Classes. But, we are sorry to say that the Congress, after coming to power in the state, has been unable to fulfil this promise even though it made attempts twice in the last two years to provide the reservations to Muslims.

This situation has arisen because the Andhra Pradesh High Court has struck down the five percent reservations for Muslims twice--in 2004 and 2005—on various grounds but the government does not appear to have done proper homework for implementing the quota for Muslims. On the other hand, the Congress government left enough lacunae in the GO issued

When the State Government filed an appeal in the Supreme Court against the quashing of Muslim reservations, the apex court declined to stay the judgement of the High Court. Again, when the state government approached the Supreme Court in July this year seeking its directions to reserve five percent seats in educational institutions for Muslims for the academic year 2006-07, the apex court rejected the application on the grounds that if the application was entertained, it would virtually amount to staying the AP High Court judgement quashing the quota for Muslims.

Even as the five-member Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court is to be constituted to go into the State government’s appeal on the issue of Muslim reservations, the Congress-led UPA government has virtually adopted a contrary stance on the issue. The Central government, in an affidavit in the Supreme Court in response to a PIL challenging OBC quotas, categorically denied reports that it was contemplating a separate quota for Muslims.

“A policy allowing for reservation based on religion would violate the fundamental right to equality enshrined in the Constitution. As a result, reservation for Muslims alone would be squarely discriminatory,” the affidavit pointed out.

The affidavit further stated that “a reservation policy intended to benefit any one religious community would necessarily fall foul of the constitutional prohibition on discrimination based solely on religion. The existing and any prospective reservation policy would have to make provision for backward castes/classes regardless of their religious considerations. Only such a policy will be in tune with the secular credentials of the country.”

Moreover, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Abdul Rahman Antulay has gone on record that there is no proposal before the Central government to provide reservations for Muslims on the lines of the OBCs. Union Minister for Human Resource Development Arjun Singh also ruled out any reservations for Muslims. All these statements indicate the thinking of the UPA government against providing reservations to Muslims.

Faced with this clear-cut stand of UPA on Muslim quota, the Chief Minister has been trying hard to wriggle out of the embarrassment. He claims that the Central government’s opposition to reservation on religious basis would not impact the state
government’s policy. He insists that the state’s decision has nothing to do with religion since the government included Muslims in the list of backward classes on the basis of their socio-economic and educational backwardness.

The fact remains that the Congress government in the state could not effectively argue the case in the AP High Court, which struck down the reservations for Muslims twice. Even in the Supreme Court, the state government could not put forth sound arguments for stay of the AP High court judgement. This only shows the casual and ineffective manner in which the state government is fighting the legal battles over the issue.

Despite the Chief Minister Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy’s assertions that the Congress is committed to provide reservations to Muslims by overcoming all the hurdles, the half-hearted actions of the government to defend the case in the courts only proves lack of sincerity and conviction on the part of the ruling party. This is the reason for successive setbacks in the courts on this issue.

Various studies and surveys have confirmed social, economic and educational backwardness of Muslims all over the country, and not merely in AP. Poorer sections of the community certainly need affirmative action on par with other sections like Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs. But the state and central governments have to find constitutional ways of helping the poorer Muslims.
Muslims in the state are wondering now what would happen to the case pending in the Supreme Court regarding five percent reservations if the UPA government’s attitude on the issue is hostile. They are questioning the sincerity of the Congress government on the issue and feel that the party has dumped them after using the community for electoral gains. It is for the Congress government in the state and UPA government at the Centre to clear the doubts on this issue.

Monday, August 28, 2006

HYDERABAD MP ASADUDDIN OWAISI IN LEBANON AND SYRIA

MiM MP Asaduddin Owaisi visiting bombed areas of Beirut city ,Lebanon


HYDERABAD LOK SABHA MP ASADUDDIN OWAISI IS THE FIRST INDIAN DIPLOMAT TO VISIT LEBANON AFTER THE WAR ACCORDING TO THE ETEMAAD URDU DAILY AND SYRIAN NEWS AGENCY MR ASADUDDIN IS ON A PRIVATE VISIT TO LEBANON AND SYRIA AND NOT REPRESENTING THE UPA GOVERNMENT OVER THERE IT IS SAID TO BE A GODWILL VISIT AND TO SHOW SUPPORT OF INDIAN MUSLIMS IN THE WAKE OF DEATH AND MASSIVE DESTRUCTION OVER THERE ACCORDING TO THE REPORTS MR OWAISI FLEW FROM DELHI TO DAMASCUAS CAPITAL OF SYRIA AND WAS WELCOMED THERE ON HIS ARRIVAL AT DAMASCUS AIRPORT BY INDIAN EMBASSY STAFF AND WHILE HIS STAY THERE FOR 3 DAYS HE VISITED HISTORIC AND ISALMIC HOLY SHRINES AND EVEN VISITED THE GRAND UMMAYD MOSQUE AND AFTER THAT HE WENT TO BEIRUT BY ROAD AND ON HIS STAY THERE HE ALONG WITH HEZBOLLAH MPS VISITED THE SOUTHEREN PART OF BEIRUT CITY WHICH WAS THE MOST BOMBED AREA IN BEIRUT WHICH WAS REPETADELY STUCK BY ISRAELI WARPLANES AND FROM THERE HE ALONG WITH VARIOUS OTHER SOCIAL AND AID ACTVISTS HE WENT TO QANA AND VISITED THE PLACE WHERE A BUILDING WAS COLLAPSED AFTER A ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE IN WHICH 57 CIVILLANNS WERE KILLED AND MR OWAISI HAS EVEN VISITED THE PORT CITY OF TYRE AN MET ITS MAYOR MR ALI MUSHARRAF THE CITY WHICH WAS DESERTED AT THE TIME OF WAR AND BINT JEBIL AN AREA IN SOUTHERN LEBANON WHICH WAS THE MAIN BATTLEFRONT BETWEEN HEZBOLLAH FIGHTERS AND ISRAELI ARMY AND IS SAID THAT THE WHOLE VILLAGES IN THAT AREA HAVE BEEN DEVASTED BY THE FIGHTING WHICH LASTED FOR 34 DAYS AND ON HIS VISIT TO BEIRUT THE HYDERABAD MP GAVE AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW TO THE HEZBOLLAH RUN TV AL MANAR AND SAID THAT HE HAS CAME TO LEBANON TO SHOW HIS SOILDARTY TO THE LEBANESE PEOPLE AND SAID HOW THE INDIAN GOVT HAS RUSHED AID WORTH 10 MILLION DOLLARS TO LEABANON AS HUMANITIRAN ASSISTANCE AND HOW THE INDIAN PARLIAMENT HAS CONDEMNNED THE WAR ON LEBANON HE ALSO MET WITH MANY CIVILLANS AND OLD AGE WOMEN WHOSE SONS WERE KILLED WHILE FIGHTING THE ISRAELI ARMY MR OWAISI WILL STAY IN LEBANON AND MEET LEBABNESE MPS AND EVEN WILL VISIT INDIAN EMBASSY IN BEIRUT AND MEET INDIAN EMBASSY STAFF AND AMBASSADOR .THERE ARE SOME REPORTS SUGGESTED THAT HE MET HEZBOLLAH SOUTHERN COMMANDER HASAN HUBULLAH AND HEZBOLLAH CHAIRMAN FOR RESARCH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT DR ALI FAYYAD IN UNDISCLOSED SECRET LOCATIONS AND WAS SAID TO BE SURROUNDED BY HEZBOLLAH GUNMEN WHILE COMING OUT OF THESE SECRET HIDEOUTS HE ALSO MET VARIOUS POLITICAL PARTY LEADERS AND THE LEBANESE PARLIAMENT SPEAKER MR NABIL BERRI AND WHILE COMING OUT OF LEBANESE PARLIAMENT SPEAKING TO REPORTERS MR OWAISI SAID THAT WHAT ISRAEL HAS DONE IN LEBANON BY DESTROYING ITS INFRASTRUCTURE AND KILLING PEOPLE AND ADDING LOSS TO ECONOMY WORTH BILLIONS IS AN ACT OF STATE TERRORISM AND ISAREL CANNOT FORCE LEBANESE PEOPLE OUT OF THERE LANDS AND IT CANNOT WEAKEN THE WILL OF THE LEBANESE PEOPLE TO FIGHT AGINST OCCUPATION HE ALSO ACCUSED THE WEST OF SUPPORTING ISRAEL .HE SAID PEACE CANNOT BE ACHIEVED IN THE MIDDLE EAST UNTIL ISRAEL WITHDRAWS FROM ALL OCCUPIED PALESTINAN LANDS AND IT IS SAD HE SAID THAT THE NATIONS WHO WANT TO PREACH DEMOCRACY IN THE REGION ARE NOT WILLING TO SPEAK TO THE DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED GOVT OF HAMAS IN PALESTIAN AND HE ACCUSED AMERICA OF DESTROYING IRAQ AND SAID IRAQ HAS BECOME THE MOST LAWLESS COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WHERE EVERYDAY CIVILLANS ARE GETTING KILLED FOR NO REASON AND ANSWERING A QUESTION RAISED BY AN REPORTER ABOUT INDIA FIGHTING TERRORISM HE SAID INDIA HAS BEEN ALSO TARGETED BY TERRORISM HE ALSO SAID MANY INNOCENT CIVILLANS WERE KILLED IN BOMBAY BLASTS FOR NO REASON HE ACCUSED THE WEST FOR DOUBLE STANDARDS WHEN FIGHTING WAR ON TERRORISM .

Andhra Pradesh Politics and Majlis News

MiM Mp Asaduddin Owaisi giving Money to poor Muslim girls for Fees by MiM Educational Fund

Office Pulled Down, MIM Deputy Mayor Functions from Floor

Karimnagar: With the Congress gearing up to face the allegation by the TRS that it cheated the people of Telangana, the party leadership has suddenly found itself in another controversy. This time it is the MIM. The minority party’s leaders in the district are crying foul over the decision of the Karimnagar Municipal Corporation mayor to pull down the chamber of the deputy mayor in the corporation office. The deputy mayor — Mohammad Abbas Shami of the MIM — says that the Congress party is cheating their party too like what it did to the TRS. The Congress party could get the mayorship of the corporation only with the help of the MIM. Now, because of problems within the Congress, they are trying to embarrass the MIM and get rid of them, the deputy mayor says. According to the MIM party workers, the mayor — D Shankar of the Congress — ordered to pull down the chamber of the deputy mayor in the name of renovation. The MIM party workers are agitated as the photos of their party leaders — Sultan Salahuddin Owaisi and Asaduddin Owaisi — were thrown on the floor. As a protest, the deputy mayor has got a make-shift office erected in the corporation premises and is discharging his duties sitting on the floor. The officials of the corporation, meanwhile, say that the deputy mayor was to get a new chamber and the old one had to be pulled down. With the construction workers entering the premises in the absence of any supervisor, they had pulled down the chamber and photographs were kept on the floor. How can anybody take a decision to renovate my chamber without my approval? There is no budget that was sanctioned for the work. The corporation did not even have enough fund to even fill the potholes on the roads during the recent rains. There is no way the civic body can afford to spend money on renovation, the deputy mayor says. However, the commissioner says that the corporation w a s granted about Rs 40 lakh for the renovation of the building. We will spend about Rs 10 lakh to renovate the deputy mayor’s chamber, G Rami Reddy, commissioner of the corporation, told newsreporter. However, the Congress insiders see local MLA and sports minister M Satyanarayana Rao’s hand behind the episode. The sports minister doesn’t like the mayor. His men might be behind the episode to demoralise the mayor, insiders said. Mayor D Shankar could not be contacted for comment.


Asaduddin Owaisi on Telangana Issue in Hyderabad

MiM Mp Asaduddin Owaisi inspecting a riot hit area in Hyderabad


TRS full of lumpen ELEMENTS: ASADUDDIN OWAISI

Hyderabad: Terming the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) as a party filled with ‘lumpen elements of the RSS,’ Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) MP from Hyderabad Asaduddin Owaisi has demanded that no decision on the division of the state should be taken by the Congress or the UPA government without speaking first to the Muslim community and its representatives. “TRS leader A Narendra, who was earlier in the BJP, took part in an RSS shakha in Shamshabad after he was sworn in as a minister from TRS in the UPA ministry. In fact, he went on to describe himself as an RSS worker first and a TRS leader next,” Owaisi told TOI from New Delhi where he is attending the monsoon session of Parliament. The MP claimed that the Muslim community had got a raw deal when the state was formed in 1956. “Bidar went to Karnataka because it had Kannada speaking people. Aurangabad went to Maharashtra because it had Marathi speaking people. There is a seizable number of Muslims in both these erstwhile Nizam-ruled cities, but they were split up when the state was formed,” said Owaisi. The MP said the MIM had told the Pranab Mukherjee committee on Telangana that a second States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) should be set up and the views of the Muslim community taken up before any decision is taken on the division of the state. “The Muslim community is the most backward. Look at the number of jobs they have, their literacy level. The MIM believes that the Congress should not pander to the interests of a view at the expense of the majority people of the state,” he said. On the issue of Hyderabad, Owaisi said it was linked with the division of the state and that the capital cannot go to either Telangana and Andhra and should remain a union territory. “In any case, our stance is that the views of the Muslim community should be taken and incorporated before any decision is taken on the division of the state. The issue of Hyderabad is linked to that,” he maintained.


Majlis Demands Special Package for Telangana

MiM Floor leader in assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi with party MlAs in the State Assembly
MIM seeks Rs 20,000-cr package for Telangana

Hyderabad: Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi asked the state government to prevail upon the UPA government in getting a Rs 20,000-crore package each released to Telangana and Rayalaseema to reduce regional disparities accrued over the past few decades. Talking to reporters on the premises of the Assembly on Thursday, the Chandrayangutta legislator said it was high time the central government announced a special package to backward regions in the state. Citing an example, he said the extremist movement in the state always attracted youth from neglected regions due to the socio-economic disparities in the region. The movement always derived its strength from Telangana region rather than Rayalaseema, he said. The Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen floor leader demanded the state government to implement GO 610 immediately in line with the six-point formula without diluting the presidential order. Taking a dig at the Telangana Rashtra Samithi for failing to live up to the state’ expectations, he criticised “the so-called champions of Telangana” for being satisfied with the land given to construct party office rather than getting statehood to Telangana. He said the MIM was closely monitoring political developments in the state and stated that their party was in favour of a united Andhra Pradesh with overall development of all regions. “But, we may change out stance depending on the developments,” he added. Akbaruddin was critical of the government’s decision to use funds received through the auction of land in Kokapet for implementing the various government schemes. He accused the government of using the auction money to fund irrigation projects in Andhra region. Majlis to weigh options Hyderabad: The Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) on Thursday said it will wait and watch developments on Telangana. Though it had opposed a separate Telangana state earlier, the MIM has decided to look into other options depending on the political scenario and come out with a clear stance in the next few days. “As a first step, the government should send back people of Coastal Andhra who are employed in Telangana by implementing GO 610. Also, announce a welfare package, including irrigation projects on a warfooting,” MIM floor leader in the Assembly Akbaruddin Owaisi told TOI. MIM chief Sultan Salauddin Owaisi had convened a meeting of religious organisations and institutions at Darussalam to review the political development. The meeting was attended by all five MIM MLAs, representatives of Tameer-e-Millat, Ulama-e-Deccan, Jamia Nizamia, Amaarat Millat-e-Islamia and Jamaat-e-Islami Hind under the banner of Joint Action Committee of Muslims. “The MIM will not support the Telangana movement led by TRS,” said MIM president Salauddin Owaisi after the meeting. “Since the issue is not so simple, the party will look into various options to ensure that our stance would not go against the interests of Muslims,” he said.