Jauhar Award to Jagdish Tytler, an accused of 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom is an insult

For Immediate Release

8th December 11

Jauhar Award to Tytler an insult to Maulana Jauhar, we condemn the Islamic Centre for hosting it

Maulana Mohd. Ali Jauhar Award to Jagdish Tytler, an accused of 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom, is an insult to the award. Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar was a key figure of the Indian freedom movement, a leader of the Khilafat movement and one of the founders of Jamia Millia Islamia. Hence, it is sad that the name of Maulana Mohd. Ali Jauhar is being misused. We are sure this is not how he would have liked his name to be remembered, and that he would not have approved of being used to white-wash the sins of a politician who was part of communal violence and mayhem in the capital of India.

The ‘logic’, extended by the organiser and some of the awardees, since no court of law has found Tytlar ‘guilty’ till date, there nothing wrong in honouring him is really farce. Should we understand, it is like since no court of law has found Narendra Modi ‘guilty’ till date for Gujarat genocide against Muslim, there is no harm in honouring him as well? Like Modi’s role in Gujarat Genocide, the role Tytler in the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984 is an open secret.

It is also regrettable that an award being given by some of the members of a minority (Muslim) community is honouring someone who has played a key role in the victimisation of another religious (Sikh) minority. It should also be a matter of shame for those who are sharing it with him. If the Citizens, especially Muslim awardees, are so insensitive towards the Sikh community, it is a matter of great shame.

While we condemn the organiser for choosing Tyter among the list of awardees, we also condemn Indian Islamic Cultural Centre for hosting it. And once again appeals to the distinguished individuals, who are participating in this function either as an awardees or guest, to boycott it as a matter of protest.

Sd/-

Shabnam Hashmi, Act Now for Harmony and Democracy (ANHAD)
Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor, Milli Gazette
Javed Anand, Citizen for Peace and Justice (CPJ)
Manisha Sethi, Jamia Teachers Solidarity Association (JTSA)
Kavita Srivastava, People’s Union for Civil Rights (PUCL)
Lateef Mohd. Khan, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee (CLMC) and many others

For further details contact: 9811209345 (Mahtab Alam)

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SEE ALSO:

An appeal to seven individuals to decline the Maulana Mohd Ali Jauhar Award

3.12.11

According to a news item in the Milli Gazette of 1 December 2011, Jagdish Tytler, an accused in the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, will be awarded the Maulana Mohd Ali Jauhar Award on 10 December 2011 at the India Islamic Cultural Centre, New Delhi. Seven others will share this award. The undersigned appeal to the other seven awardees to not accept the award as a mark of protest against honouring Mr Tytler, whose contribution in the 1984 anti-Sikh pogrom has been recorded by several fact-finding reports, including those by PUCL and PUDR.
The seven names are:

1. S Y Quraishi (Chief Election Commissioner of India)
2. Sanjeev Bhat, Indian Police Service officer, Gujarat cadre
3. Zafar Agha , Senior journalist, Delhi
4. Mohd Najeeb Ashraf Chaudhri ,Chief Income Tax Commissioner,
5. Maulana Mohd. Haseeb Siddiqui , Chairman, Deoband Nagar Palika Parishad
6. Nusrat Gwalliori, Urdu poet, Madhya Pradesh
7. Begum Rehana AR Andre, Social Activist and Educationist, Mumbai (Bi-Amma Award)

It is sad that the name of Maulana Mohd. Ali Jauhar (1878-1931) is being misused. He was a key figure of the Indian freedom movement, a leader of the Khilafat movement and the sixth Muslim to be President of the Indian National Congress. We are sure this is not how he would have liked his name to be remembered, and that he would not have approved of being used to white-wash the sins of a politician who was part of communal violence and mayhem in the capital of India.

It is also regrettable that an award being given by members of a minority community is honouring someone who has played a key role in the victimisation of another religious minority. Therefore, we the undersigned call upon the seven others to boycott this award ceremony. We make the same appeal to Justice (Retd.) MSA Siddiqui of the National Commission for Minority Educational Institutions, who is reportedly scheduled to chair the award ceremony.

Signed:
1. Sohail Hashmi, Writer and Film Maker, Delhi
2. Mukul Dube, Writer and Columnist, Delhi
3. Mahtab Alam, Civil Rights’ Activist and Journalist, Delhi
4. Shivam Vij, Writer and Journalist, Delhi
5. Shabnam Hashmi, Social Activist, ANHAD, Delhi
6. Mazin Khan, Pharos Media, Delhi
7. Subhash Gatade, Writer and Activist, New Socialist Initiative, Delhi
8. Manisha Sethi, Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association
9. M Gauhar Iqbal, Social Activist, Delhi
10. Preeti Sampat, Researcher and Activist, Delhi
11. Kabir Khan, Activist, Mumbai
12. Musab Iqbal, Editor, NewzFirst.com, Bangalore
13. Savad Rahman, Journalist, Kerala
14. Harsh Kapoor, South Asia Citizen’s Web
15. Nisar Ahmed, Independent Journalist and Activist, Beed, Maharashtra
16. Mohd.Rais Khan,Editor,Qaumi Farman, Mumbai
17. Javed Naqi, Human Rights Activist
18. Shafiq R Khan, Activist and Founder Empower People
19. Waqar Anwar, Member, Advisory Council, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, Delhi and Haryana
20. Mahipal Singh, National Secretary, PUCL
21. Anuradha Bhasin, Editor, Kashmir Times
22. Faisal Anurag, Journalist and Activist, Ranchi
23. Akshay Azad, Journalist, Jammu
25. Dr.Mohammad Arif, Chairman, Centre for Harmony and Peace,Varanasi
26. Safwan Amir, University of Delhi
27. Dr. Tanweer Fazal, Jamia Millia Islamia
28. Dr. Aftab Alam, Aligarh Muslim University
29. Prof. Kaleem Koya, Editor, Thejas Daily, Kerala
30. Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Human Rights Activist Mumbai
31. Himadri Sekhar Mistri, Research Scholar, Delhi School of Economics
32. Vijayan MJ, writer and activist, Delhi Forum, New Delhi
33. Wali Laskar, Human Rights Activist, Guwahati
34. Imran Ali, Advocate, Delhi
35. Aashish Gupta, Researcher, Allahabad
36. Bobby Kunhu, Researcher and Writer, Kerala
37. Iqbal Abhimanyu, Jawaharlal Nehru University
38. Mary Abraham, Ambedkar University, Delhi
39. Abu Zafar, Special Correspondent, Afkar-e Milli Magazine
40. Vidya Bhushan Rawat, Writer and Activist, Delhi
41. Aish M Ghrana, Writer
42. Kavita Srivastava, General Secretary, PUCL Rajasthan
43. Syed Afzal Ali Shah, Consultant & Sr Journalist, Lucknow
44. Asad Zaidi, Three Essays Collective
45. Tarun Bharatiya, Film-maker, Shilong
46. Braham Prakash Guddu, Cultural Ativist, JNU
47. Aman Zaidi, Pune
48. Najmul Huda, Researcher, Jamia Millia Islamia
49. Feroze Mithiborwala, Activist, Mumbai
50. Dilip Khan, Journalist and Columnist, Delhi
51. Abdul Rashid Agwan, President Universal Knowledge Trust, New Delhi
52. Ra Ravishankar, Bengaluru
53. A B Masood, Senior Journalist
54. Ameeque jamei Member Secretariat- Akhil Bhartiya Naujawan Sabha Delhi
55. Lateef Mohd. Khan, Civil Liberties Monitoring Committee, Hyderabad
56. Kundan Pandey, Journalist, Indore
57. Devashis Prasoon, Journalist, Jaipur
58. Amit Julka, Delhi
59. Faizan Haidar Naqvi, Activist, Delhi
60. Kunal Chattopadhyay, Jadavpur University, Kolkata
61. Dr.Mohan Rao, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
62. Melanie, Activist
63. Minakshi Menon, University of California
64. Afroz Ahmad Shah
65. Dr.Rafat Seema, Editor, NISA Magazine
66. Kaneez Fatima, CLMC, AP
67. Roomy Naqvy, a, Assistant Professor, Jamia Millia Islamia New Delhi
68. Amandeep Sandhu, writer. Delhi
69. Surbhi Badhwar, Assistant Professor,DU
70. Hargopal Singh, Member, Political Committee, UCPI, Solan. H. P.
71. Muhammed P, Journalist, New Delhi
72. Shiv, Student
73. Uma V Chandru, Researcher and Activist, Bangalore
74. Malay Deb.Zambia
75. Waled Aadnan, Presidency University, Kolkata
76. Mohsin Khan, Chennai
77. Romyorup Mitra, Student, DU
78. Azad, Activist
79. Shafaque Alam, student, Jamia Millia Islamia
80. Naveen Gaur, University of Delhi
81. Sangitha Krishnamurthi, Bangalore
82. Tikuli Dogra, Blogger, Creative Writer , New Delhi
83. Aniruddha Dutta, Kolkata
84. S. Anand, Navayana, Delhi
85. Khalid Editor, JamiaJournal.com
86. Hamza Omar, Christ University, Bangalore
87. Fayaz Shaikh, Nanded, Maharashtra
88. Rashid Hussain ,Human Development Society, Jaipur
89. Kishor Thope, USA
90. Rajeev, Activist
91. Zafar Lushkary, Social Activist, Okhla
92. Subir Dey, Researcher, JNU, Delhi
93. Iqbal Ansari, Researcher, Jamia Millia Islamia
94. Tameemuddin Humble, GAYA, Bihar
95. Sai, Activist
96. Xavier Dais, Activist-Writer, Goa
97. Dr. Nowshari
98. Gautam Gauri, Social Activist
99. Sadiq Naqvi, Journalist
100. Saravjeet Singh, Student, Jamia Millia Islamia
101. Mirtyunjay Kumar, Delhi University
102. Umair Siddiqui, London
103. Akhlaq Ahmed, APCR, Delhi
104. Sudeep Singh, Punjab
105. UZAIR AHMED KHAN, Student,Hyderabad
106. Irfan Khan, Journalist
107. Arjen Singh
108. Dhido Gill , California
109. Manpreet Singh
110. S.Karmegam, JNU
111. Dr. Zafarul Islam Khan, Editor, Milli Gazette
112. Dr. S Q R Ilyas, Editor, Afkar e Milli
113. Mujtaba Farooq, Jamaat e Islami Hind
114. Shiney Varghese
115. Rana Singh member punjab student union ( Shaheed Randhava)
116. Gurmeet Singh, Dhanbad, jharkhand
117. Harpreet Singh, IIM SHILLONG
118. Ali, Delhi
119. T. Sher Singh
120. Arvinder Uppal
121. Dharmveer Yadav
122. H S Grewal. London
123. Gurpreet Singh
124. Taran
125. Simran Jeet Singh, Columbia University
126. Virendra Mongia
127. G. Kaur
128. Preet Sandhu, Toronto, Canada
129. Kanwarjeet Singh
130. Prabdeep Singh
131. J Singh, Toronto
132. Navreet Kaur. Sydney, Australia
133. kamal deep singh
134. Hari singh
135. Inderpal Singh
136. Jaswinder Singh
137. Zamir, Entrepreneur, Srinagar, Kashmir
138. Amarjeet Singh
139. Anil, Research scholar
140. Taranjit Singh
141. G.Singh
145. Simran
146. Saudha Kasim, Bangalore
147. Amandeep Singh - UK Sikh Lobby Group
148. Serene Kasim, Bangalore
149. Maryam Fatima, New Delhi
150. Bharat Desi