Mysore-born Indian to groom Muslims for public service

Europe Sun (IANS) Monday 6th February, 2012

A Mysore-born Indian public affairs specialist has been charged with revitalising the Muslim Public Service Network (MPSN) that grooms young American Muslims for public service and to take on civic leadership positions.

"I believe that MPSN needs to form strong alliances with organisations in the US, while working to stabilise its flagship Summer Fellowship programme," said Sabith Khan, the new executive director about his task of revitalising the organisation founded in 1994.

"I believe we need to also engage our stake-holders and community in a creative way, so they come together and give back and re-learn the meaning of community development," Khan, who "lived in Bangalore for most of my life" before coming to the US, told IANS.

Over the last 18 years, a few fellows of the programme have gone on to make a name in public service. The most prominent is Rashad Hussain, son of a mining engineer from Bihar, who was named by President Barack Obama as US Special Envoy to the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

"The American Muslim community is among the richest, best educated communities there is, and has been consistently giving back to the country," Khan said. "But one area where it lacks substantial contribution is in the area of public policy."

"With my understanding of public policy and civic engagement, I believe I can make a deep impact on the organisation and help it move forward; and grow in size and also partnerships/ alliances," said Khan, who holds a Master's in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University.

"MPSN is at a stage where they needed someone to stabilise the programme and also grow its support base, while maintaining its high quality programming. I believe I will be able to do that, going forward," he added.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)