BOMBAY, 23 August — In an unprecedented move that surprised many and drew angry protest from Muslims intellectuals and the members of the Central Haj Committee (CHC), the government through an notification sacked noted scientist and Padma Bhushan awardee S.Z. Qasim from the Central Haj Committee and replaced him by former controversial Haj Committee Chairman Salamat Ullah, who was removed in 1999 after a legal battle in the Supreme Court.
The entire members of the current Haj Committee including its Chairman Tanvir Ahmed, have expressed their displeasure and anger to the government for sacking Qasim midway through his term. Tanvir and the committee members who came to know about the sacking of Qasim only when they received the government notification. They have lodged strong protest with Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani and the External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, stating that the removal of Qasim was highly objectionable.
The government in response to the protest told the Haj Committee members that it shall look into the matter.
An angry Qasim wrote a letter to the external affairs minister, alleging discrimination and said that he was disturbed and felt humiliated by the action of the ministry and that his image and prestige has been degraded, in the way in which he was removed.
Salamat Ullah who had the distinction of holding the chairman post in the Haj Committee for a record six years term was removed and replaced by Tanvir when a Supreme Court ruling allowed reconstitution of the Haj Committee in 1999.
The tenure of Salamat Ullah as chairman of the Haj Committee had been marred with several controversies, and complaints of nepotism and corruption were in plenty.
What took the Muslims by surprise is how Salmat Ullah, a known Congress worker, and labeled as a person of all weathers, could penetrate and influence the hard-core Hindu militant BJP leaders to nominate him again in the Central Haj Committee, where his entrance is not welcomed. Tongues are also waging that perhaps Salamat Ullah may be ditching the Congress and joining the BJP.
