The Hindu : Front Page : ``Redress grievances of minorities''

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 06, 2006

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``Redress grievances of minorities''

Vinay Kumar

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday said that it was "unfortunate" that terrorism has resulted in certain sections of the country's population being targeted with the result that a wrong impression has been created of the radicalisation of the Muslim community.

Presiding over a meeting of the Chief Ministers on Internal Security, Dr. Singh said that it was imperative that "we embark upon a pro-active polity to ensure that a few individual acts do not result in tarnishing the image of an entire community, and remove any feelings of persecutions and alienation from the minds of the minorities."

On a cautious note, the Prime Minister referred to the prevailing sense of insecurity among minorities, especially Muslims and warned that the "adverse consequences of this can be extremely deleterious for our polity. The responsibility to ensure that this does not happen lies squarely upon all of us." He asked the Chief Ministers to ponder how to assuage feelings of insecurity among the minorities, especially Muslims.

"We must recognise that the Muslim community in large parts of our country nurses a strong grievance of not having been active participants and beneficiaries of processes of social and economic development. All of us have an obligation to redress legitimate grievances of our minorities," he said. He advised the Chief Ministers to pay personal attention to ensuring that the minorities "are effective partners in the process of social and economic change."

While dealing with terrorism, scrupulous regard and respect for fundamental human rights of citizens, particularly of minority communities, ought to be a core concern of law enforcement agencies, he said.

"No innocent person should be harassed in our struggle against terrorism. If a mistake is made, effective remedial corrective measures must be taken well in time. Government agencies, particularly law enforcement agencies, must establish intimate contacts with community leaders and show adequate sensitivity to their concerns. Chief Ministers ought to put in place effective mechanisms to achieve these objectives."

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