Dreams of the dispossessed

This is in response to the column “New Year hopes and dreams of the dispossessed” by Aijaz Zaka Syed. I would like to thank the author for an excellent article. It is a fact that the Indian Muslims have done quite well under very difficult circumstances since independence and they must be appreciated for their efforts and achievements.
You have already mentioned Cipla, a global pharmaceutical manufacturing company, and Himalaya Laboratories but we may very well add Wokhrt of Habil Khorakiwala, Hamdard of Hakim Abdul Hameed and cosmetic and beauty products of Shahnaz Hussain.
Currently, at least 20 percent of the entire pharmaceutical industry in India is controlled by the Muslims.
You have mentioned the Muslim success in movie industry as it is dominated by Shah Rukh, Aamir and Salman, the awesome, threesome Khans but it is also interesting to know that many of the most popular artists, poets and musicians are also Muslims.
Another field of Muslim excellence is your own field of journalism. We all know about the top achievers such as A.G. Noorani, M.J. Akbar, Seema Mustafa and many others, not only in English, but in many other Indian languages including Hindi and Urdu. This is also important to note that Muslim women are doing very well as journalists and other literary fields in English and Indian languages.
Syed Shahabuddin in his recent articles in Arab News has expressed his dismay about the adverse consequences of Partition on Muslim participation in fine arts, humanities and sports. He is right for sure. There is no doubt about it. However, Muslims in India are doing much better than was expected at the time of independence. — Dr. Khalid Omar Siddiqi, By e-mail