RIYADH — In continuation with solidarity campaign "Stand with AMU", an educational conference was organized by India Islamic Culture Centre (IICC) in association with several like-minded NRIs organizations here. The title of the conference was "Educational Empowerment of Indian Muslims: Challenges and Future Road map". In his keynote address, Chief Guest Zafar Sareshwala, chancellor of Moulana Azad National Urdu University (MANNU), said: "The main cause of the Indian Muslims' social, political and economic backwardness is their ignorance of the fact that education is the only solution to their varied problems." Emphasizing the importance of education, he said that no community has made progress without education, particularly modern education, which demands that Muslims must realize that it is the need of the hour. Sareshwala recalled the remarks of Lord Brougham, who had said "Education makes a people easy to lead but difficult to drive; easy to govern but impossible to enslave". But unfortunately Indian Muslims have yet to understand the benefits of education. While interacting with the community, he assured to raise the issue of AMU's minority character with the honorable prime minister of India and other concerned officials. "Since the issue is sub judice, it can only be resolved politically," he added. After taking charge as MANUU Chancellor, Sareshwala has taken practical steps to ensure employability of its graduates by using his well-established connections in the industry. This year he had arranged a campus selection session, which resulted in the employment of hundreds of new graduates. He also stressed the need for Muslims "to hold intensive dialogue with the Modi-led government in New Delhi, if Muslims want to address their grievances." Dr. Nadeem Tarin, a prominent philanthropist and educationist, appreciated the organizers and advised them to be focused and cautious in achieving their noble goal of restoring AMU's minority character. Prominent NRI businessman Rashid Ali Sheikh stressed that we must knock each and every door without hesitation until our demands are met. The convener of "Stand with AMU Campaign" Murshid Kamal explained, in detail, the objectives of this solidarity campaign and made an appeal to other like-minded organizations to join hands for this noble cause. Referring to the problems faced by Indian Muslims in general and the minority character of the Aligarh Muslim University in particular, President of Tanzeem Hum Hindustani Mohammad Qaiser reminded that if AMU's minority character is revoked, it will end up with the same fate of Osmania University Hyderabad, an institution which was established and run by Muslims and which now has hardly one to two Muslim representation. He presented imperative data about poor representation of Muslims in government jobs. Qaiser called on Sareshwala to use his connections with the government to "improve the empathetic condition of Muslims and boost their presence in government sector." He further suggested taking into consideration candidatures of NRIs living in GCC while making political appointments as they possess desired professional skills in various fields. On the other hand, former pro-vice chancellor of AMU, Abul Hasan Siddiqui highlighted the historical aspects of AMU's minority character. Several people were given commemorative trophies on this occasion. A community worker Noushad Jamayee was awarded for his tireless services to the community. The salient feature of the program was the release of the scholarly book authored by M. Zakir Azmi Nadvi titled "The Jewish People: A Qur'anic Perspective". Attended by more than 400 participants including social activist Qamruddin Jugnu, the program was successfully compered by Akhtarul Islam Nadvi.
