Community Round-Up

The Preliminary findings of a high-level committee, which was set up by the Prime Minister to prepare a report on the social, economic and educational status of Muslims, reveal a significant gap in their representation in the intelligence apparatus as well as para-military and security agencies. The findings do not include the defence forces.


As per statistics being collated by the seven-member committee headed by Justice Rajinder Sachar, Muslim representation in jobs falls below those of the SCs/STs and the OBCs.


Muslims form a mere three per cent of the para-military services and have even less representation in high profile security organisations like the RAW, SPG, IB and CBI. There is not a single Muslim officer in the RAW and SPG, while the Intelligence Bureau has two and the CBI has one Muslim officer. As far as education is concerned, the preliminary figures suggest that Muslim men and women are less educated than their non-Muslim counterparts. In fact, a large number of Muslims do not even possess basic reading and writing skills. At the national level, the number of literate Muslims is less than non-Muslims.


Based on the figures of the 2001 census, only 55 per cent Muslim males are literate as compared to 64.5 per cent non-Muslims, while only one among 41 males is a graduate as opposed to one among 19 non-Muslims. The condition of the Muslim women is much worse, with only one among a hundred being a graduate. The commi-ttee’s initial findings, which state that only four to five per cent of Muslim students attend the madrasas, contradict the general belief that the majority of Muslim students attend madrasas.


The Army did not react very kindly when asked by the committee to furnish details about the number of Muslims in their ranks. The Navy did come forward with civilian related data, while the Indian Air Force did not have any qualms about making available the figures.


However, given the Army’s objection and the political hue and cry raised on the issue, the defence ministry wrote to the committee expressing its inability to furnish further details. It also requested the committee not to use any data related to the armed forces.


It is imperative that the central and state governments address issues of discrimination and exclusion. They have to surmount a major problem — low levels of literacy, especially in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Another major Muslim grievance is their poor represen-tation in the government services. What adds to their discontent is the fact that they continue to remain excluded, while the Dalits and OBCs enjoy a large share of the national cake owing to reservations and other compensatory programmes.

The newly constituted Central Haj Committee (CHC) has asked Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh to take up the issue of increasing the quota for Indian Hajis with the Saudi government. The newly appointed chairman of the Committee, Iqbal Ahmad Sardagi has also sought an appointment with the Prime Minister to discuss the issue. Though the CHC has received 1,48,000 applications for Haj this year, it has been granted a quota of only one lakh by the Saudi authorities. The rest of the quota has been fixed for private tour operators. If the Saudi government does not increase the quota, 48,000 Indian Muslims will not be able to perform Haj through CHC this year.

The National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has asked the central government to include a provision in the new Police Act that the religious minorities across the country could get a proper representation in police forces of state governments and para-military forces of the central government. In the Sixth Report of the National Police Commission (NPC), it was observed that there had been several instances ‘where police officers and men appear to have shown unmistakable bias against a particular community while dealing with a communal situation’. The NPC, both in its Third and Sixth Reports recommended that the composition of the personnel in the police system as a whole should reflect the general mix of communities as exists in society and thereby command the confidence of the different sections so that the system would function impartially without any slant in favour of any community. The NCM said that the new Act should provide for measures to screen all police personnel at the time of recruitment from bias against religious minorities and women. Such screening to detect communal bias should also be done before every stage of promotion. The policeman found nurturing communal hatred and prejudice against women should be dismissed from service. Dereliction of duty during communal disturbance should also call for immediate dismissal from service.

The tally of those convicted in the 1993 serial bomb blasts crossed the fifty mark. Special judge, Pramod Kode held all of them guilty in the 13 and half year old terror strike on Mumbai. Most of them were held guilty of facilitating the blasts and of having taken weapons training organised by the blasts mastermind, Tiger Memon.


Atleast five convicted and accused pleaded for leniency. One is a vegetable vendor, another a cabbie, the third a migrant from Uttar Pradesh, the fourth a man who transported contraband for a living and the fifth has two wives. They have one thing in common-all were found guilty of involvement in the 1993 bomb blasts. The five men had facilitated the landing of arms and explosives at Shekhadi on the Raigad coast and they have pleaded for a lenient sentence.


Vendor Khalil Ahmed Nazir said he was the sole breadwinner of his family that included four children. He urged special judge, P. D. Kode to consider the sentence he had already undergone and the fact that he was poor and had an ailing wife to look after. Nazir said what happened in 1993 was a mistake and he should be shown leniency as he had no criminal record apart from this.


Ghulam Mohammed, who was next in the dock, cried as he denied he had any links with Tiger Memon. He said he was a mechanic and also worked for Raju Kodi, transporting silver supplied by Memon. Moham-med said he was earning his livelihood as a taxi driver while he was on bail after three years in judicial custody. He said he had to repay the loan he took for the taxi and his two daughters were yet to be married, and pleaded for mercy.


Syed Abdul said he used to transport silver for absconding accused, Anwar Theba and the day the explosives were smuggled in, Theba had warned him not to look at the contraband. Abdul said he had made a “mistake’’ and pleaded leniency for the sake of his 14-year-old daughter.