Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy Condemns Iran's Authoritarian Laws, Urges Indian Muslims to Extend Support

The Wire Staff

23 September 2022

 

FILE PHOTO: A newspaper with a cover picture of Mahsa Amini, a woman who died after being arrested by the Islamic republic's "morality police" is seen in Tehran, Iran September 18, 2022. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS

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Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) has condemned Iran’s “authoritarian laws and their murderous enforcement”, saying it is “inhuman and barbaric to kill a fellow human being merely for not covering her head”.

A 22-year-old Iranian young woman Mahsa Amini died in the custody of police, allegedly due to wounds she sustained after the police thrashed her for taking off her head cover. Several protesters demonstrating against the murder in a peaceful manner have also been killed.

IMSD said that in this epochal moment, “the Indian clergy and conservative Muslims in general that support mandatory head covering for Muslim women, citing the principle of right to choose attire, must be questioned whether they support Iranian women’s ‘right to choose or refuse head coverings’?”

“It will be hypocritical of all those who tom-tom this liberal democratic argument that ‘forced removal of burqa, naqab, hijab is against the basic human rights of a woman’, but who do not come forward in support of Iranian women of different faiths who are forced to cover their heads in consonance with Islamic Shariah practices of Iran. It is to be noted here that in Iran the rule of mandatory head covering is applicable to Muslims and non-Muslims alike,” the statement, signed by 95 people, said.

The collective called upon Indian civil society to “challenge the hypocrisy of those religious power elite” who choose the liberal principles of the Indian constitution as per their “fundamentalist and misogynistic conveniences” while remaining tight-lipped when these principles are “flouted against the progressive aspirations of the citizens in Islamic States”.

The complete statement and the list of signatories are reproduced below.

“IMSD strongly condemns the repressive Iranian regime, questions the hypocrisy of the Muslim clergy in India”

Indian Muslims for Secular Democracy (IMSD) strongly condemns the Iranian State’s obscurantist, authoritarian laws and their murderous enforcement, as also the denial of the citizens’ right to protest. In this third decade of the 21st century it’s inhuman and barbaric to kill a fellow human being merely for not covering her head.

At the same time, we question the hypocrisy of India’s Muslim clergy in not supporting the Iranian women’s right to choose, an argument it puts forward in the context of the ongoing hijab controversy in India.

The world is witnessing a horrendous turn of events in Iran where State atrocity has caused the custodial murder of a 22-years-old young woman, #MahasaAmini , just for taking off her head cover.

No less shocking is the fact that those protesting the murder by peacefully defying the mandatory head covering are being subjected to violence, humiliation and arrests on the streets by the police.

The news and real time videos coming from Tehran and other parts of Iran are heart wrenching. However the heart-warming aspect of these protests is the active support of young Iranian men who are opposing both archaic traditional practices and State atrocities.

In this epochal moment, the Indian clergy and conservative Muslims in general that support mandatory head covering for Muslim women, citing the principle of right to choose attire, must be questioned whether they support Iranian women’s ‘right to choose or refuse head coverings’?

It will be hypocritical of all those who tom-tom this liberal democratic argument that ‘forced removal of Burqa, Niqab, Hijab is against the basic human rights of a woman’, but who do not come forward in support of Iranian women of different faiths who are forced to cover their heads in consonance with Islamic Shariah practices of Iran. It is to be noted here that in Iran the rule of mandatory head covering is applicable to Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

IMSD calls upon the civil society in India to challenge the hypocrisy of those religious power elite who choose the liberal principles of Indian constitution as per their fundamentalist and misogynistic conveniences while they remain tight lipped when these principles are flouted against the progressive aspirations of the citizens in Islamic States.

Signatories:

Akbar Shaikh, Indian Muslims Secular Youth Movement, Solapur

Amir Rizvi, IMSD, Designer, Mumbai

Anjum Javed, Delhi

Anjum Rajabali, IMSD, Film writer, Mumbai.

Ali Bhojani, IMSD, Mumbai

Alok Sheel, retired IAS, Delhi

(Dr) Anthony P. J.

(Dr.) Anuradha Chenoi, Delhi

Anurag Chaturvedi, senior journalist, Mumbai

Arif Kapadia, IMSD, Business, Mumbra

Arshad Alam, IMSD, Writer, Columnist, Delhi

Asha Puri, Delhi

Ashhar Khan, Jaunpur

Asiya Shervani, Hyderabad

Askari Zaidi, IMSD, Senior Journalist, Activist, Mumbai

Dr. Azeez Pasha, Hyderabad

Deepak Sanon, retired IAS

Dipak Malik, Varanasi

Dipak Roy, Delhi

Feroz Abbas Khan, IMSD, Theatre & Films Director, Mumbai

Feroze Mithiborwala, Co-convener, IMSD, Mumbai

(Dr) G. G. Parikh, Freedom fighter, Mumbai

Ghulam Mohiuddin, USA

Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi, Writer, Teacher, Researcher in Culture, Media & Islamic Studies

(Prof.) Girija Gupte, Feminist, Mumbai

Guddi S. L. , Activist, Mumbai

Harsh Kapoor, Independent researcher, Editor, France

Irfan Engineer, IMSD, CSSS, Mumbai

(Dr.) Jamsheed Rizwani, France

Jasjit Randhawa

Javed Akhtar, IMSD, Poet, Film Writer, former MP, Mumbai

Javed Anand, Convener, IMSD, Mumbai

Jyoti Badekar, Bharat Bachao Andolan, Panvel

Kanhaiya Lal Sharma

Kasim Sait, IMSD, Businessman, activist, Chennai

Kishor Jagtap, Ganai Cultural Movement, Kalyan

Kusum Verma, Varanasi

Madhu Prasad, IMSD, retired professor, activist Delhi

Mahabub Shaikh, Indian Muslims Secular Youth Movement, Bengaluru

Mallika Sarabhai, activist, Indian classical dancer, actress, Ahmedabad

Mandita Mitra, Delhi

Medha Patkar, NAPM Convener, Mumbai

Mohammed Imran, USA, Delhi

Prof. Mridula Mukherjee, Delhi

Muniza Khan, IMSD, Social Activist, Varanasi

Nandita Sehgal, retired IAS

Naseeruddin Shah, Actor, Mumbai

ND Jayaprakash

Neelima Sharma, Theatre, Delhi

Nihar Bhattacharya, Varanasi

Nirmala George, Delhi

Persis Ginwala, Ahmedabad

Pratibha Shinde, Lok Sangarsh Morcha, Jalgaon

(Dr) Ram Puniyani, Author, activist, Mumbai

(Dr.) Qaiser Shameem, Delhi

Renu, Delhi

Ritambhara Shastri, Delhi

Rooprekha Verma, activist, former vice-chancellor Lucknow University.

Sabah Khan, IMSD, Parcham, Mumbai/Mumbra

Sadique Basha, IMSD, Activist, Mira Road, Thane

Saif Mahmood, IMSD, Lawyer, Supreme Court, Delhi

Sandip Pandey, Political activist, Lucknow

Sarita Sabiruddin, USA

(Dr.) Satish Mishra, Delhi

Satya Narayan Sahu

Satyen K Bordoloi, IMSD, Copywriter, editor, Mumbai

Shabana Azmi, Actor, former MP, activist, Mumbai

Shabana Dean, Naturopath, Mumbai

Shafat Khan, IMSD, Writer, Mumbai

(Dr) Shanawaz Alam, IMSD, Asst Professor, Sultanpur

Shalini Dhawan, Designer, Mumbai

Shama Bano, Varanasi

Shama Zaidi, IMSD, Documentary Film Maker, Mumbai

Shamsul Islam, Author, Delhi

Sheeba Aslam Fehmi, IMSD, feminist writer, research scholar and a senior journalist, Delhi

Shikha Sen, Delhi

Smita Salunkhe, Vidyarthi Bharti, Kalyan

Subhashini Ali, CPI(M), AIDWA, Kanpur

Sujata Bhattacharya, Varanasi

Sultan Shahin, Editor-in-chief, New Age Islam, Delhi

(Dr.) Sunilam, former ex-MLA, activist, Indore

Sunita Vedantam, Delhi

Taizoon Khorakiwala, IMSD, Businessman, philanthropist, Mumbai

Teesta Setalvad, IMSD, CJP, Mumbai

Tushar Gandhi, Author, activist, Mumbai

Utpala, Delhi

Vasanthi Raman, Retired professor, Delhi

Vibha Wahi, Varanasi

Vibhuti Narain Rai, IMSD, retired IPS, writer, commentator, Noida

V.K. Singh, Varanasi

Vimla Chand, Sydney

Yashodhan Paranjpe, social activist, Mumbai

Yogendra Yadav, Swaraj Abhiyan, Delhi

Zakia Soman, BMMA, Delhi

Zeenat Shaukatali, IMSD, Islamic Scholar, Wisdom Foundation, Mumbai

Source:   IMSD Condemns Iran's Authoritarian Laws, Urges Indian Muslims to Extend Support

https://thewire.in/rights/imsd-iran-mahsa-amini-muslims-india-support

URL:   https://newageislam.com/islam-politics/indian-muslims-secular-democracy-iran-/d/128017

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