New Delhi: In the context of anti-CAA and NRC protests all over the country, the top leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind including Ameer-e-Jamaat, Syed Sadatullah Hussaini, Secretary-General T Arif Ali, Vice Presidents – Muhammad Jafar, Salim Engineer, S Ameenul Hassan and other members of Central Advisory Council took part in a meeting organized by members of civil society on Dec 18, 2019 at India International Centre. The meeting was initiated at the behest of Ameer-e-Jamaat who conducted and participated in the meeting which took stock of the current situation across India in the wake of protests against the enactment of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA) and the proposal to initiate a National Register of Citizens (NRC). It was decided to come together and form a united front under the name “Alliance against CAA and NRC.

 

In a statement to the media, the JIH Vice President, Salim Engineer said: ”Jamaat had announced earlier that it would be opposing the then CAB and NRC. The CAA is against the spirit of our Constitution and violates several of its Articles. The government is not prepared to listen to the voice of the people. Hence, civil society members have made an Alliance of like-minded individuals and organizations to oppose the CAA and NRC. We are happy to be part of the Alliance. We would like to share some of the things that we agreed upon:

 

1. The Alliance against CAA & NRC decided to support the widespread public disapproval of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 recently passed by Parliament with a slender majority, which was cobbled up with engineered abstentions during voting. The Alliance noted with concern that the Act violates the basic secular structure of the Constitution of India as well as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and other United Nations Covenants and Declarations.

 

2. The Alliance discerned the diabolical motive of resorting to faith based discrimination as the propelling force behind the CAA. It bails out non-Muslims who are not included in the NRC. Muslims alone are rendered stateless – ready to be consigned to detention centers.

 

3. The Alliance decided to appeal to the state governments to challenge the CAA by invoking Article 131 of the Constitution.

 

4. The Alliance resolved to support the peaceful protests being currently organized all over India in around three dozen universities.

 

5. The Alliance decided to organize protest dharnas nationwide.

 

6. The Alliance specifically expressed sympathy and solidarity with the students of Jamia Millia Islamia (JMI) and Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) who recently were victims of unprovoked and excessive use of force by the personnel of the local Police and the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). The Alliance demanded punitive action against those responsible based on the findings of a high level judicial enquiry that need to be constituted into these unjustified attacks on students.

 

7. The Alliance called upon the Vice Chancellor of Jamia Millia Islamia to quickly pursue the decision announced by her to get the unauthorized entry made by Delhi Police in the University premises on 14 December 2019 and unjustified use of lathis and teargas shells against peacefully protesting students expeditiously investigated.

 

8. The Alliance expressed its displeasure that the AMU administration allowed the UP Police to enter the campus on 13 and 15 December 2019 after which they committed excesses against the unsuspecting students. The Alliance demanded similar enquiry and punitive action as in the case of JMI as demanded above.

 

9. The Alliance demanded from the Union Ministries of HRD and Home Affairs that both the enquiries be concluded within a month from now and the guilty be suitably punished without delay.

 

10. The Alliance demanded that all cases instituted against protestors and more particularly students be unconditionally withdrawn.

 

11. The Alliance called upon all Indians to observe Shaheed Diwas (30 January) and Ambedkar Jayanti (14 April) as ‘Save Constitution Day’.

 

12. The Alliance decided that a Peoples Inquiry Committee be constituted headed by no less than a retired judge of the Supreme Court to go into Police excesses committed against the students of JMI and AMU and other protesters.

 

13. The Alliance unanimously elected Ravi Nair and Mujtaba Farooq to be its Convener and Co-Convener respectively. They were also requested to constitute a Steering Committee and Sub-Committees for Media, Research, Documentation and other specific matters as required.

 

Issued by:

Media Department

Jamaat-e-Islami Hind