Hyderabad: Won't tolerate interference in Shariah, assert Muslim elders

Hyderabad: Muslim elders from the various schools of thought, in one voice made it clear that the community will not tolerate any attempt to interfere in the Muslim Personal Law.

Speaker after speaker who addressed the mammoth public meeting organised by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the MIM to oppose the Uniform Civil Code late on Wednesday criticised the Narendra Modi government for its stand on Triple Talaq and polygamy, and trying to impose a Uniform Civil Code in the country.

Speakers, including Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi and women members of the AIMPLB Dr Asma Zahara, Aquila Khamooshi, Sabiha Siddique, Jameelunnisa and Taheniyat Ather were among those who condemned the Central government’s stand and the Modi government’s attempts to convert India into a “Hindu Rashtra”.

Referring to certain paragraphs of the counter affidavit the Centre filed before the Supreme Court in the issue of Triple Talaq, Mr Owaisi said Prime Minister has insulted not only Indian Muslims but the entire country by comparing Indian Muslims with the Muslims of Pakistan and other countries.

He said that the countries the counter affidavit says have banned Triple Talaq were not under democratic rule. “We are unable to understand what the government is trying to say by citing Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Tunisia and Turkey as examples of countries where the dual marriage system is in existence,” Mr Owaisi said.

He said that by interfering in the Shariah, the Central government was trying to show that Muslims were second-class citizens. The MIM president wondered when the Constitution listed 16 Directive Principles, why the Central government was only bothered about UCC and cow slaughter.