NNWN /New Delhi, 2017-6-28

Noted social activist,`Shabnam Hashmi' on Tuesday returned the National Minority Rights Award,National Commission for Minorities in protest against the recent mob lynchings, the latest being that of a Muslim teenager near the national capital. Nearly two years ago,a number of authors, filmmakers and scientists had returned awards in the wake of the lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq in Dadri over rumours of beef consumption.
Hashmi, who was conferred the award in 2008, said the National Commission for Minorities, maintained that the the award, has “lost all its credibility” and hit out at the chairperson of the body over his “condemnable statements”. “I return the National Minority Rights Award, which has lost all its credibility, in protest against the consistent attacks and killings of the members of the minority communities and total inaction, apathy and tacit support to the violent gangs by the government,” Hashmi wrote in a letter to the NCM. Earlier in the day, she visited the commission and handed over the award and the citation to its Director TM Skaria. Hashmi said she tried contacting Rizvi as well but he was not available.  The citation was given to Hashmi for her work in Gujarat after the 2002 riots and also in Kashmir. It also mentioned that her work invoked the “wrath of divisive forces”, leading to physical attacks as well.
NCM Chairperson Gayorul Hasan Rizvi recently courted controversy saying those who cheered Pakistan’s victory in the Champions Trophy final against India should be “deported” to that country.
Earlier this month, Hashmi had stepped down as the trustee of ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy), an NGO founded by her. The foreign funding license of the NGO was cancelled by the home ministry in December last year citing “undesirable activities against public interest.”