Radicalisation Of Indian Muslims -2

[Bharatvarsh]

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->15 per cent quota for Muslims sought

Staff Reporter

TIRUNELVELI: Demanding 15 per cent reservation for Muslims in education and employment, functionaries of Tamil Nadu Thawheedh Jamaath organised ‘jail bharo’ on South Bypass Road at Vannarpet in Palayamkottai here on Wednesday.

The police arrested over 3,149 protestors, including 793 women and 334 children, as they blocked traffic on the busy Bypass Road. The protestors were taken to various marriage halls in Tirunelveli and Palayamkottai and released later in the evening.

Speaking amidst the protestors earlier, the state vice-president of TNTJ, S.S.U. Saifullah Khaja said most of the Muslims, whose contribution to the freedom struggle could not be just ignored, were living in a pathetic condition after Independence, as the 16 per cent reservation given to them in 1927 was reduced by 7 per cent by the Congress government, led by Omanthur Ramasamy Reddiar, in 1947. And the privilege was withdrawn completely in 1954.

“The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which came to power in 1967 with the support of Muslim League, also refused to take any positive step to give reservation again to Muslims. However, the DMK government was forced to create a new category – Most Backward Community – in 1989 and give 20 per cent reservation. But the Muslims were left out this time too. To win back the reservation given to Muslims, we’ll intensely fight and we are prepared for any sacrifice,” Mr. Saifullah said.

He warned that the TNTJ would be forced to take hard decisions in the party’s general council meeting to be held in August this year, if the State Government remained silent over the “genuine demand of the Muslims”.

http://www.hindu.com/2007/07/05/stories/...240300.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->