New Delhi: 29 January 2008.

Joint Committee of Muslim Organisations (JCMO) organised a historic dharna (sit-in) to condemn the inhuman and illegal siege of Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation forces amid unprecedented world apathy, here on Tuesday at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi.

Convenor of the dhrna, Dr. Zafar Islam Khan, President of All India Muslims Majlis-e-Mushawarat, briefed the whole issue. He said ‘Israel blockaded the 15 lakhs Gazans and treated them worse than prisoners’. He demanded immediate lifting of the illegal siege, intervention of the UN Security Council, big powers as well as all Muslim, Arab and concerned countries.

Pointing out the ineffectiveness of UNO on Middle East and other issues, Dr Tasleem Rahmani, President of All India Muslim Political Council, recommended Muslims to distant from the UNO and all such types of organisations and to seek solutions of their problems through OIC and Rabta-e-Aalame Islami.

Maulana Zeeshan Hidayati, President of All India Fikr-wo-Amal, blamed Israel for sowing the seeds of communal violence in India, and warned the government from the dangers of Israeli friendship. He said Muslims ‘don’t demand justice from oppressors’, and emphasized them for blowing a mass movement for justice.

Member of Parliament, Shahid Siddiqui criticised Indian government for following pro-Israeli and American police, launching Israeli-spy satellite, being silent on the issue of MK Gandhi’s grandson Arun Gandhi and favouring foreign persons like Taslima Nasreen, Salman Rushdi and Denmark Cartoonist.

Asst. Secretary Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Mohammed Rafiq said ‘it is an open secret that our government has become a ‘puppet government of US and Israel, and Israel is shaping an environment of violence, communal riots and bomb blasts in India while especially Muslims are being targeted’. ‘Media and Intelligence agencies, which haven’t any information about the perpetrators even one minutes before the blasts, proclaim just few minutes after the incident that ‘Muslims’ or some ‘Muslims outfit’ are behind the blasts’, Mr Rafiq added. He advised Muslims to plan permanent and long-term peaceful strategy in the light of Prophet Mohammed educations (PBUH), apart from just doing dharnas and protests.

Elaborating the U-turn in Indian foreign policy, Mr. Syed Shahbuddin, ex-MP and ex-President of All India Muslims Majlis-e-Mushawarat, quoted that Gandhiji once said about Palestine, ‘Palestine is belong to Palestinians as England to Englishmen’. He demanded ‘not only to lift the siege of Gaza but freedom of whole Palestine, and to free Palestinians from all influences and occupations of Israel’.

Maulana Israrul Haq Qasmi gave concluding speech, Dr S.Q.R Ilyas, editor of Afkar-e-LMilli, Prof. Akhtarul Wase, Maulana Jalaluddin Hyder, Prof. Abdur Rahman Geelani and Students Islamic Organisation of India’s Delhi Zone’s Secretary also addressed to the dharna.

At the end of the dharna, JCMO presented a memorandum to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Minister of  External Affairs Pranab Mukharjee demanding the Government to ask the UN Security Council to rise to its duty in order to prevent a humanitarian crisis of proportions unseen in recent times.

All-India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, Jamiat Ulama-e Hind, Jamaat-e- Islami Hind, Kul Hind Jamaat-e Ahl-e Hadees, MOEMIN, Students Islamic Organisation of India, Muslim Political Council, Majlis-e Fikro Amal, Kul Hind Anjuman Himayat-e Islam, Majlis Ulama-e Islam, Milli Wa Ta’leemi Foundation, Shia Conference, Momin Conference, Popular Front of India, Safinatul Hidaya Trust, Shah Waliullah Institute, The Milli Gazette  and Afkar-e Milli organised the dharna.