HYDERABAD/AHMEDABAD, 20 June — The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, an apex body representing all schools of thought within the community, will discuss the sectarian violence in Gujarat at its 16th session beginning here tomorrow.

The board will also take up for discussion the large-scale destruction of mosques and in the state during the two-and a-half-months of madness that broke out at the end of February and claimed over 1,000 lives.

The board was formed in 1973 to protect and safeguard the Muslim Personal Law as enshrined in the Shariah and to exhort Muslims to follow the Shariah.

The board will also elect a new president. The post fell vacant following the death of Qazi Mujahidul Islam Qasmi in April.

Board Secretary Abdul Rahim Qureshi told reporters yesterday that a 201-member strong general council would elect a new president and a 30-member executive committee on Saturday. He hoped the president’s election would be unanimous.

"A person with deep insight of Shariah and one who has the capability to carry all schools of thought with him will be elected the president," he said.

He said the biggest challenge before the board was the various attempts being made to make the Muslim Personal Law ineffective through judicial intervention.

The board, he added, would consider steps to establish "Darul Qaza" or adjudication forums all over the country to help settle cases according to the Shariah.

Qureshi also decried the campaign against "madarssas", saying right-wing Hindu groups were trying to portray them as dens of militancy. The "madarssas", he said, imparted religious education and moral values.

Asked if the "madarssas" needed to be reformed, he said this was an internal matter for the community. "Nobody should ask for reforms under duress," he said, adding several seminaries taught English and the government syllabus.

Meanwhile, chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has said the sectarian violence in Gujarat is an "absolutely unacceptable blight on India’s good character."

In his keynote address at a conference hosted by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in Washington Tuesday, Sen. Joseph Biden said: "As a friend of India, I cannot look at what has happened in Gujarat over the past few months and remain silent."

Biden, a Democrat from Delaware, said: "About 2,000 people have been slaughtered in mob violence there, often — whether you like to hear it or not — with the collusion of local officials. Well over 100,000 victims have been driven from their homes, seen their businesses destroyed. Whole communities have been decimated, the bonds between the Hindu and Muslim torn apart."

Biden said the horrific killing of dozens of Hindus by Muslims at Godhra being used as an excuse for the subsequent killing of many hundreds of Muslims by Hindus is "just plain wrong."

"No matter what the provocation, nothing justifies the slaughter of innocent women and children."