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EDUCATION:
ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY
Campus
in Crisis
With a
student arrested for ISI links, AMU's susceptibility to fanatical groups
and violence causes concern-and leaves the university tense
By Ninad
D. Sheth in Aligarh
The
Chinese have an ancient curse: "May you live in interesting times."
Students and staff members of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) have
been discovering the power of the curse. Paranoia, anger and unrest have
swept AMU following the arrest of a suspected terrorist, Mubeen Ahmed,
from the campus on September 3. Matters were made worse when Amar Ujala,
a Hindi newspaper, printed front-page allegations that ISI and Hizbul
Mujahideen camps were being run on the campus. Media reports such as these
have angered students, who believe one incident doesn't justify tarnishing
an entire institution.
 |
| M.H.
Ansari, Vice Chancellor, AMU and Brij Bhushan, SSP, Aligarh |
Although
the university is functioning normally, there are posters all over the
campus protesting against the whispers about the ISI presence. Students
are also unhappy that a more vociferous protest is not possible since
the administration has threatened to shut down the university. "If
the university is shut down where will we go and protest?" asks a
hosteller of AMU's Habib Hall of residence.
Part of
the tension with the administration relates to the September 6 incident
when Rajan Sharma, an Intelli- gence Bureau (IB) officer on investigative
duty, was locked up in a hostel room and beaten up by a group of students.
According to a police medical report, Sharma emerged from the room with
a broken jaw and suffered acute torture.
Students
maintain the IB should have taken permission from the AMU authorities
before sending Sharma on his mission. The police, on its part, says surprise
searches can hardly be carried out with prior announcements. The four
students the police holds responsible for the assault on Sharma have been
missing since September 6.
Says Vice-Chancellor
Mohammed Hamid Ansari, "The case of Mubeen is in court. We do not
know if Mubeen is guilty. On top of that, misreporting of the case is
being seen here as a conspiracy to malign the university by making mountains
out of molehills."
Conspiracy
theories are rife in the residential halls of this prestigious university.
What has vitiated the academic atmosphere is that many Islamic organisations
are competing with each other to exploit the perceived alienation of the
students.
There is
the omnipresent Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Says Shariq
Nissar, a PhD (economics) student and SIMI member: "We teach the
Holy Book and the Muslim way of life. It is important to inculcate these
values in the youth who may have come to AMU from a non-religious background.
We have at least 4,000 members and more are coming in every day."
The other
major group with substantial backing is the Student Islamic Organisation-the
student wing of the Jamaat-e-Islam. It says its stress is on character
building as per Islamic tenets.
The secretive
Muslim Students' Union focuses specifically on foreign students at AMU.
A relative newcomer to campus life is the quasi-religious Tabalia Jamat.
Finally, there is the Milli Parliament, a fringe group that believes only
a Muslim legislature can represent Muslim interests in India and rejects
existing democratic institutions.
Membership
to these organisations brings many benefits. Aside from providing a readymade
social circle, they provide assistance with fees and hopes of a political
career. Theological discourses are an added bonus.
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