Alliance against CAA and NRC formed to support protest

                                                                  

Alliance against CAA and NRC formed to support protest

New Delhi, 20 Dec: A meeting of civil society organizations and volunteers was held on Dec 18, 2019 at India International Centre in New Delhi Alliance to take stock of the current situation across India in the wake of protests against the enactment of the unconstitutional 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”.

The participants unanimously resolved as follows:

1.  The Alliance against CAA and 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.

Those who attended the meeting include:

•  Ravi Nair, Chairman, South Asia HR Doc Center.

•  Mujtaba Farooq, General Secretary, AIMMM

•  Ambarish Rai, Educational Activist

•  Maulana Tauqir Raza, Chairman, Ittehaad e Millat Council

•  Jaiwant Patankar, Advocate

•  Maulana Mohd Wali Rahmani, Imarate Sharia

•  Rajiv Ranjan, RTE Forum

•  Syed Sadatullah Hussaini, Ameer, Jamaat e Islami Hind

•  Prof Apoorvanand Jha, Delhi University

•  Maulana Mahmood Asad Madani, General Secretary, Jamiat Ulema e Hind

•  Prof Ratan Lal, Delhi University

•  Mualana Mohsin Taqvi, Majlis Ulema Hind

•  Mufti Mohd Mukarram, Shahi Imam, Fatehpuri Masjid

•  Anil Chamaria, Media

•  Wakil Parvez, Jamiat Ahle Hadees

•  Dr Narendra Nagarwala, Delhi University

•  Dr Syed Zafar Mahmood, Convener, Watan ki Fikr

•  Umesh Kumar, Media

•  Kamal Farooqui, ex-Chairman, Delhi Minorities Commission

•  Sanjeev Sinha, RTE Activist

•  Dr SQR Ilyas, Member, Advisory Council, JIH

•  Mitra Ranjan, RTE Activist

•  Shakil Ahmad Syed, Advocate, Supreme Court

•  Bharat Seth,

•  Lt Gen Zamiruddin Shah, ex VC, AMU

•  Ms B. K. Sucharita,

•  Ziya us Salam, Media

•  Ms Bihu Chamadia,

•  Maulana Ataur Rahman Qasmi, Shah Waliullah Foundation

•  Ms Aatreya Sen, RTE Activist

•  E. M. Abdur Rahman, PFI

•  Prashant Tandon, Media

•  Prof Hasina Hashiya, Milli Council

•  Dr Sonu Bharadwaj, Samvidhan Bachao Sanstha

•  Prof Ghazala Jamil, JNU

•  Dr Aparajita Sharma, Council for Social Development

•  Ms Sahba Rumnong, Advocate

•  Ms Saira Shah Halim, Media Activist

•  Dr Poorva Bharadwaj, Women’s Rights Activist

•  Sanam Wazir, Amnesty Int’l

•  Kishore Lal, ex bureaucrat

•  Wasiq N. Khan, United Against Hate

•  Rev Fr Dr P. Samuel, Henry Martin Institute

•  Mashkoor Usmani, ex President, AMUSU

•  P. R. Rahanamol, Bhim Army

•  Umar Khalid, Activist

•  A. C. Michael, Delhi Catholic Church

•  Wasim Tyagi, Bhim Army

•  Anas Tanvir,

•  Birju Nayak, Lok Raj Sangathan

•  Maulana Niyaz A. Farooqui, JUH

•  Dr Tariq Ayubi, AMU

•  A. U. Asif, Media

•  Engr Mohd Salim, VP, JIH

•  Sharfuddin Ahmad, Advocate

•  Anas Tanvir, Advocate

•  Owais Sultan, Advocate

Ravi Nair, Chairman Convener

Mujtaba Farooq Co-Convener