If Haji Ali isn’t ‘Sab Ke Liye’ group plans to stage a dharna outside dargah on April 28

In a bid to allow women’s entry into the Haji Ali dargah’s sanctum sanctorum, 50 activists from a forum called Haji Ali Sab Ke Liye held a press conference Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh yesterday.

One of the activists said that the group urges progressive individuals and groups to come together and ask Haji Ali to follow the Shani Shingnapur’s example. He added that the constitutional values of gender justice should be in place.

He threatened that they will try to reach out to the trustees to reconsider, and it that does not happen, then they plan to have a dharna outside Haji Ali on April 28.

Speaking at the conference, Zakia Soman from Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, who has filed the Public Interest Litigation in the Bombay HC to allow women’s entry into Haji Ali, said, that is not just activists but even common Muslims who have joined them this fight.

Claiming that the Trust not allowing women’s entry into Haji Ali’s inner sanctum is a misrepresentation, Suhail Khandwani, a trustee of the dargah, told a newspaper that that it is untrue that the Trust is not allowing women enter the inner sanctum.

“We have only separated the entry and exits following the Supreme Court guidelines to provide better safety to women,” he claimed.