INDIAN AMERICAN MUSLIM COUNCIL “Empowerment through strategic advocacy for peace, pluralism and social justice”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 6th 2018

Raritan, NJ – Saturday 6th May 2018 The New Jersey Chapter of the Indian American Muslim Council (http://www.iamc.com) an advocacy group dedicated to safeguarding India’s pluralist and tolerant ethos, in association with AFMI (American Federation of Muslims of Indian Origin organized a meet and learn session with a noted Human Rights Activist and General Secretary of Citizen for Justice and Peace Ms. Teesta Setalvad. This session provided a great learning opportunity for young activists looking forward to rise above party lines and religious affiliations and work towards safe guarding India’s pluralistic values and an inclusive secular cultural diversity. The event unfolded with grand introduction of the guest Teesta Setalvad and followed by an intense Q&A session allowing the new activists to learn from the expertise of the invitee. While recognizing the burden carried over by the victims and her organization CJP’s pursuit for justice for the victims of 2002 Gujarat carnage where more than two thousand people died now seems an arduous task. She acknowledged that until 2007 there was a reasonable deal of work done by the media and the Justice department in many cases but since the start of Vibrant Gujarat mission by the then Chief Minister, Mr. Modi, things have taken a back seat and a new phenomenon of industrial and corporate indulgence started taking over openly in deciding government policies and Justice itself became a victim. She termed it as “orchestrated mathematical campaign” of how International PR firms including APCO were hired to do an image makeover of the entire Gujarat situation. Ex-Board of Director IAMC, Mr. Azher Siddiqui started the event with a reminder of the verses from Quran to stand firm against injustice and the need to follow the traditions of Prophet Mohammed (SAW) to counter injustice in any society. While introducing the guests IAMC NJ Chapter president Mr. Minhaj Khan emphasized the need of joining hands with secular and likeminded people and communities here in US and in India to counter the hate propaganda spread by the Hindutva forces in present day India. He said, ‘the current government has created an intense atmosphere of ‘hate, resentment and revenge’ against its minority communities of Muslims, Christians & Dalits together which has never seen such a parallel since the partition of India. “India cannot be further partitioned” reiterated Mr. Khan “on the lines of ‘hate and bigotry’ and impunity cannot be the rule of law anymore’.

The event saw a well-attended crowd including community leaders and graced by Nishrin Jafri, daughter of former Member of Parliament Mr. Late Ehsan Jafri and ex National president Mr. Shaheen Khateeb, Himanshu Sharma and Head Quarter: 6321 W. Dempster St., Suite# 295 Morton Grove, IL 60053 Tel: 1-800-839-7270 ♣ E-Mail: [email protected] ♣ Website: www.iamc.com

INDIAN AMERICAN MUSLIM COUNCIL “Empowerment through strategic advocacy for peace, pluralism and social justice”

Amit Behere and Deepak Sharma. The event was hosted and sponsored by Paradise Biryani Pointe, Somerville, New Jersey. The owner Mr. Sravan Reddy who is also an activist echoed the need for communal harmony and encouraged the new and enthusiastic activists to come forward and communicate in a language ‘local’ to the masses so that the message is well heard and accepted The unit chief of AFMI Mr. Saeed Patel closed the event by thanking the guest and stated “Secular India, Free India is fortunate to have an activist lawyer like Teesta Setalwad. In the face tremendous odds, her insistence on fairness, justice and truth is revolutionary. Where many activists for fairness and justices folded under pressure from authorities, her resolve to not give up the fight for truth and justice is inspiring. All the Indians and world citizens should support her and her team for their courageous work in service of humanity and dignity of underprivileged.” The function ended with a delicious Indian food and great networking session among the Indian communities as New Jersey is home to 292,256 Asian Indians, according to 2010 census figures. Contact: Mudassir Ansari, General Secretary – IAMC NJ Chapter Phone/fax: 1-800-839-7270 Email: [email protected]

Head Quarter: 6321 W. Dempster St., Suite# 295 Morton Grove, IL 60053 Tel: 1-800-839-7270 ♣ E-Mail: [email protected] ♣ Website: www.iamc.com