Muslim groups from Telangana are in the process of developing strategies and responses to the 22nd Law Commission’s public notice calling for suggestions and representations on Uniform Civil Code.
For instance, the Jamiat-e-Ulama Hind Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (Arshad Madani group) urged members of the Muslim community to individually respond to the call for opinions on the Law Commission website by email. “The Muslims of India have been living in this country for around 1,500 years, following our Sharia, and personal laws, and will continue to do so. In the past, we rejected UCC. Therefore, I urge every Muslim man and woman should send their individual opinion to the Law Commission,” general secretary of the Jamiat Mufti Mahmood Zubair Qasmi said.
Meanwhile, Jamiat-e-Ulama Hind Telangana and Andhra Pradesh (Mahmood Madani group) said that the organisation is in the process of meeting groups belonging to different communities. The idea is to build a consensus before sending a response to the Law Commission. “The UCC is not just the issue of the Muslim community. Other communities too can be affected by it. While we understand that the time to respond is short — within 30 days — we are in the process of speaking to different groups. It is also interesting to see that the public notice has come before the 2024 elections, and where elections is some States are likely to happen soon,” Maulana Khaleeq Sabir, from the Jamiat, said.
President of Jamaat-e-Islami Telangana and Odisha Khalid Mubashir Zafar too underscored that there is a need to engage other communities before sending across a response.
The Law Commission public notice directs the users to a website that allows them to upload a form or to type their suggestions on the page. Organisations are now working to create a template of sorts for the convenience of users.
Last week, the new president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, in an interview with The Hindu, underscored that a key challenge the Muslim body now faces is to deal with the UCC. “It isn’t only an issue of the Muslims, but also of other faiths. The personal laws of tribes too are different. The spirit of the Constitution is to permit communities to follow their respective religion,” he had said.
