Sheikh Aboobacker Ahmed, general secretary of All-India Islamic Scholars Association, sought the intervention of Indian President Pranab Mukherjee to stop the federal government's plan to impose a uniform civil code in the country. "We expect from the head of the state of India to guarantee the freedom provided by the constitution to all citizens in the country to live in accordance with the principles of their religions and faith," he said while inaugurating the Protection of Rights Conference, organized by the state committee of Sunni Yuvajana Sangham (SYS) in Kozhikode in the southern Indian state of Kerala, recently. Highlighting the unique nature of Indian constitution because of its plurality embracing diverse features of Indian polity, Sheikh Aboobacker, also known as Kanthapuram, said that national integration and national unity can be made possible through recognizing the identity of each religion in the country, which has a population of 1.3 billion. "The attempts to unilaterally impose a uniform civil code after nullifying Muslim personal laws based on Islamic Shariah are not acceptable to Indian Muslims. We have no right to make any changes in the Islamic Shariah as it is part of a divine scripture," he said. Kanthapuram noted that freedom of religion is a fundamental right enshrined in the Indian constitution and every citizen has the right to believe, practice and propagate the religion of his choice in a peaceful manner. "The beauty of India is that followers of different religions live in accordance with their faiths and the country's strength is the unity in diversity," he said while urging all people who believe in Indian secularism to join hands to defeat the ulterior designs of chauvinist forces to impose a uniform civil code.
