Dimapur, February 18 (MExN): A number of citizens, said to be decedents of one of the earliest Muslim settlers in Nagaland, today questioned the Muslim Council of Dimapur and whether its members are even legitimate Muslim settlers from the country themselves. Expressing support for the action of the Naga Council of Dimapur, the citizens also suggested that the Muslim Council of Dimapur was also originally formed by immigrants after overthrowing the one Jama Masjid established by Dimapur settler and pioneer Hazi Maligul Khan before the statehood of Nagaland.
The statement criticized the Muslim council for ‘defying’ the real status of the original settlers; in the eye of the Dimapur community, the descendents said, there are individuals even in the Muslim Council’s own office bearers who have no clear proof of decent and residency in any particular local area of the country.
A statement received here from five individuals stating to be the surviving grand progeny of Hazi Maligul Khan, who settled in Dimapur in 1895, expressed support for the strategy of the Naga Council of Dimapur to identify all illegal immigrants, saying that any person can easily obtain registration from the present Muslim Council of Dimapur. The statement strongly said that proof of identity and citizenship must be from contemporary original documents and not any other documents issued in the current times.
The statement was appended by Shah Nakib Khan, Adil Khan, Shah Imran Khan, Mohammed Ali Khan and another citizen whose appended name was not legible in the statement. As proof of their identities, the signatories of the statement mentioned documents such as Registration under the Foreigners’ Rule 1939, a letter dated December 17, 1959 issued by the Assam Board of Wakf and a Jamabandi bearing deed number 157 issued in the name of 13 sons of the late Hazi Maligul Khan.
The citizens stated: “A person can easily procure any current document from the authorities outside the state and obtain registration in the so-called MCD whereas the true identity can be proved only be documents issued during the contemporary period, say a person born in a particular place should be proved only by the birth certificate issued by the competent authority not later than the relevant period of time, and further supported by documentary proof of the original inhabitance of the parents and ancestors in the concerned local area.”
Khan’s grand progeny took strong note of the Muslim Council of Dimapur going on a drive to identify illegal immigrants in Dimapur. Three decades ago, members of the Muslim community lived as a minority domination over non-Nagas in Dimapur and they lived peacefully, law-abidingly and with discipline under a single Jama Masjid established initially by Hazi Maligul Khan on his own family land. After his demise, the statement said, the land was registered at the instance of its Mutawalli the Late Hussain Khan, the fourth eldest son of Hazi Maligul Khan in December 1957 as Wakf estate under the Assam Board of Wakf.
“The situation became adverse to the local environment following unabated influx of Muslim migrants in large numbers that overthrew the management of the Jama Masjid established by Late Hazi Maligul Khan. Thereby the sanctity and discipline has been blurred, creating social disharmony and various sorts of crimes in the local area,” the statement of Khan’s grand progeny stated said.
“These people even went to the extent of forming a committee styled by the name ‘Muslim council Dimapur’ (MCD) under the pretext of social security and discipline by enrolling members, however without identifying as to who are genuine citizens of the country.”
The statement said that the steps taken by the Naga Council of Dimapur to identify illegal immigrants is supported and Hazi Khan’s decedents said the Dimapur Naga frontal organization’s action must be given administrative recognition by the state government. Referring to the proposed drive of the Muslim Council to identify illegal immigrants the statement expressed doubt: “Such a body resorting to identification of the sons of the soil or the genuine migrants belonging to the Muslim community, is highly absurd and the current practice of issuing ID cards to those people by the district administration on the basis of membership certificates issued by the MCD is a highly erroneous criteria adopted by the district administration and to the detriment of the genuine members of the community.”
