AMUTA urges UPA to pass Communal Violence Prevention Bill

AMUTA alleges that the Bill has been languishing in the Parliament for nearly 8 years

In the wake of riots in Muzaffarnagar, Aligarh Muslim University Teachers' Association has urged the UPA government to take necessary steps for passing the Communal Violence Prevention Bill, which it alleged has been languishing in Parliament for nearly 8 years.

AMUTA Secretary Aftab Alam said if any political party fails to recognise the urgent necessity of such a law, "It would have to bear the burden of accepting the responsibility of allowing the communal fabric and national unity to suffer major damage."

The AMUTA, which held a meeting of its general body yesterday, also passed a resolution to this effect.

The resolution demanded the setting up of a high level time-bound joint enquiry by the National Human Rights Commission and the National Commission for Minorities to probe the recent Muzaffarnagar riots.

The resolution blamed the state government for allegedly failing to prevent the outbreak of communal violence in Muzaffarnagar despite repeated warnings.

"The state government has not only failed in controlling the riots, but was now continuing to rub salt on the wounds of riot victims by failing to implement a coherent and credible rehabilitation programme for them," the resolution said.

The AMU teachers are sending a fact-finding team to Muzaffarnagar to probe the sequence of events and prepare a comprehensive document on the status of more than 50,000 persons who have been displaced by the riots and are now surviving in makeshift camps.