Top Muslim Body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind gave a statement on Jammu and Kashmir today

Top Muslim body Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind today passed a resolution stating that Kashmir is an "integral part" of India and said that the welfare of the people in the valley lies in their full integration with India.

The resolution which was adopted in Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind's annual general meeting held in New Delhi, also attacked Pakistan, saying that inimical forces and the "neighbouring country" are bent on destroying Kashmir by using the people as a shield.

"It is our firm belief that welfare of Kashmir lies in getting integrated with India," Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said.

Emphasising that it can never support any separatist movement, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind said, "We consider such movements not only harmful for India, but also for the residents of Jammu and Kashmir."

Maulana Mahmood Madani, General Secretary of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, also said that he has no problem if National Register of Citizens or NRC is conducted across India as it will help in knowing about the "intruders" at a time when "genuine citizens" are also looked at with suspicion of being intruders.

"The NRC should be conducted in the whole country as it will help in knowing how many intruders are here. Even those who are genuine citizens are being blamed. Hence it should be done. I have no problem with that," Mr Madani said.

The top Muslim body also appealed to all Muslims in India that it should consider "correction" and "inclusion" of names in the voter list as their religious as well as a national duty. The statement came in the backdrop of the recent publication of the final list of National Register of Citizens (NRC) in Assam in which more than 19 lakh of the 3.29 crore applicants were left out.

The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind also announced that it is taking steps to ensure that religious education imparted through Madarssas will be integrated with the mainstream education system.

It said it wants to bring reforms in the religious education system by integrating formal education with it. Explaining this, Maulana Mahmood Madani told news agency ANI, "While the body is against the interference of government in its religious education system, Jamiat wants to undertake reforms by itself."

Mr Madani had recently hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Minister for Minorities Welfare Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi rolled out schemes for Madrassa modernisation.

On June 11, the Central government had announced that Madrasas across India will be connected with mainstream education for the betterment of children studying in the Islamic seminaries.

"Madrasas are in large number across India. They will be connected with the formal education and mainstream education so that those children studying there can also contribute in the development of the society," Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs, told news agency ANI.

Modernisation of Madrasas is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan that he laid out in the run-up to Lok Sabha elections in 2014. "Hold Quran in one hand and computer in other," Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said.

(Inputs from PTI and ANI)

