waqf board
– Photo: Amar Ujala
Expansion
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board has expressed strong displeasure over the bill being brought by the Central Government to amend the Waqf Act. The Board made it clear that any such change in the Waqf Act 2013, which changes the status and nature of Waqf properties or makes it easier for the government or any individual to usurp them, will not be accepted at all. Similarly, reducing or limiting the rights of Waqf Boards will also not be tolerated.
Board spokesperson Dr. Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas said that Waqf properties are gifts given by Muslim elders which have been Waqfed for religious and charitable purposes. The government has made the Waqf Act only to control them.
He said that the Indian Constitution and Shariat Application Act 1937 also provide protection to the Waqf Act and Waqf properties, therefore the Government of India cannot make any such amendment in this law which will change the nature and status of these properties. He said that till now whatever decisions and steps the government has taken regarding Muslims, they have only taken away something from them and have not given anything to them.
After attacking the Waqf properties, it is feared that the next number may come to the Waqf properties of Sikhs and Christians and then the monasteries and other religious properties of Hindus. Dr. Ilyas appealed to the NDA allies and other opposition political parties to completely reject any such proposal and amendment and never let it pass in the Parliament.
