Beware of the Sarkari Musalmaan
by Mahtab Alam
In the current issue of the English fortnightly, Milli Gazette (1-15 December), it is reported that on 10 December 2011, former union minister Jagdish Tytler will be awarded with seven others in a function at India Islamic Culture Centre, Delhi, by Maulana Mohammad Jauhar Ali Academy. The other names were those of Dr. S Y Quraishi, Chief Election Commissioner of India; Sanjeev Bhat, Indian Police Service officer (Gujarat); senior journalist Zafar Agha; Mohd. Najeeb Ashraf Chaudhri, chief income tax commissioner; Maulana Mohd. Haseeb Siddiqui, chairman of the Deoband Nagar Palika Parishad; Nusrat Gwalliori, a Delhi-based Urdu poet, and Begum Rehana AR Andre, a social activist and educationist based in Mumbai.
[. . .]
The name of Jagdish Tytler, one of the prime accused in the anti-Sikh pogrom of 1984, on the list of awardees, created a furore among many activists, journalists and academicians. In response, they appealed to the seven others to decline the award, which was subsequently endorsed by more than a hundred people from across the world.
[. . .]
at a press conference in Delhi, Zafar Agha said, “As a young journalist, I saw the anti-Sikh massacre of 1984 of Delhi and behind it was the hand of Mr Tytler amongst others. My conscience doesn’t allow for this and I have informed the organisers that I can’t receive this award.” He also appealed to his co-awardees to reconsider their decision to accept this award. Sanjiv Bhatt, in a message said, “Told them that I cannot accept an award or share a platform with Mr. Tytler.”
FULL TEXT AT: http://kafila.org/2011/12/09/beware-of-the-sarkari-mussalmaan-mahtab-alam/
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