AMU row: Minority institutions demand 'white paper' on Partition

The Centre should bring out a "white paper" on Partition to avoid the distortion of history, an organisation comprising old students from various minority institutions said today.

The controversy over a portrait of Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah in the Aligarh Muslim University was ploy to defame the varsity and create differences, said Basir Ahmad Khan, member of the Minority Universities Alumni Front, at a press conference here.

"The portrait has been there for last 80 years, it is a part of history and no one can change it," said former pro-vice chancellor of IGNOU Basir Ahmad Khan, while asserting that the Centre should come out with a "white paper" on Partition and avoid the distortion of history once and for all.

 

Khan, who is also the ex-president of AMU student union, said they are of the opinion that leaders of both the countries -- be it Mahatma Gandhi or Mohammad Ali Jinnah -- should be respected.

He also said that Pakistan came into being by virtue of a pact between three parties, and that now the whole thing was being blamed upon Jinnah alone.

"When Bangladesh situation was there (war), there was a meeting of security council in New York. There the foreign minister of India Sardar Swaran Singh said 'Pakistan came into existence by virtue of a pact among three parties' - the British government, Indian National Congress and All India Muslim League.

"It was passed by working committee of Congress, passed by the AIML and passed by the House of Commons in England. Now it has become a controversial issue whether Jinnah was the only responsible for it," he said.

He added that they would be meeting the President also to apprise him about the attacks on minority institutions.

The district administration had yesterday warned that strong action will taken against those involved in the AMU campus violence on May 2.

On May 2, AMU students clashed with the police demanding action against the right-wing protesters for allegedly barging into the campus and demanding the removal of the Pakistan founder's picture hanging on the walls of the student union office for decades.