Petition to LG against minorities panel chief

New Delhi: A group of

eminent persons

, comprising

retired judges

,

armed forces veterans

,

former bureaucrats

and

intellectuals

, has written a letter to Delhi lieutenant governor Anil Baijal seeking removal of

Delhi Minorities Commission

chairman

Zafarul Islam Khan

for a controversial and “provocative” social media post in which he thanked Kuwait for “standing with

Indian

Muslims”.

“A Facebook post of Zafarul-Islam Khan has brought dishonour to the nation. This is an unbecoming conduct, displayed by a very important functionary of the Delhi governmentt,” the group said in the letter, which has 106 signatories, including six retired judges, 43 former army officers of the rank of LG and Maj Gen (many of them ’71 war veterans), 20 retired civil servants and 10 intellectuals.

The letter said, “We the ‘Concerned Citizens of India’ are deeply peeved and have therefore, approach the LG of Delhi to remove Zafarul Islam Khan from the post of

chairman

Delhi Minorities Commission as he has lost the moral and legitimate right to hold such an exalted post having indulged in anti-India activities and has brought dishonour to the nation.”

Signatories include former high court judges like SN Dhingra, SM Soni, Pernod Kohli, MM Kumar, Ambaras Joshi, MC Garg; retired bureaucrats Saurabh Kaushal, KK Mittal and M Meena; ex diplomats Bhaswati Mukherjee, Vidya Sagar, P Stondan; and armed forces veterans like former Air Marshal Dushyant Singh and LGs Gurmeet Singh, Arvind Sharma, Karan Singh Yadava, S Ravi Shankar.

On Tuesday, Khan shared a provocative post on Facebook to thank Kuwait for “standing with the Indian Muslims” and referred to “Hindutva bigots”, who according to him, miscalculated the reaction of the Arab world about the “persecution of

Muslims

in India”.

He also hailed controversial Islamic “preacher” Zakir Naik in his post as he claimed people like Naik are respectful household names in the Muslim world.

However, on Friday, Islam tendered an apology, saying that his tweet was “ill-timed” and “insensitive” in the light of the coronavirus outbreak. While apologising, he claimed that the matter was blown “out of proportion”.

The remarks were posted by Khan on Tuesday but deleted after sometime.

The Delhi Police has booked Khan for sedition (IPC Section 124A) and promoting religious animosity (IPC Section 153A).