The Mutahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU) J&K and the Muslim Personal Law Board J&K — both of which are umbrella bodies representing a number of religious institutions — have accused the J&K Waqf Board of “coercion” to take over independent religious institutions, including shrines and mosques, in Kashmir.
Grand Mufti Nasirul Islam chaired a meeting of members of the MMU and the Muslim Personal Law Board on Thursday, where the J&K Waqf Board was urged “to desist from pursuing this agenda”.
“There is a deliberate attempt by the Board to centralise all religious institutions, learning centres, masjids and shrines of J&K under its aegis. The MMU has received complaints from local masjid committees, shrines and religious learning centres that the Waqf Board was coercing them to take over these independent institutions, which for decades have been rendering services to the community,” a joint statement of these religious groups said.
The religious bodies expressed concern over the National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) recent summons to MMU president Moulana Rehmatullah Qasmi. “Such actions are deeply disturbing, sad and unacceptable,” they said.
The religious bodies also protested the nearly four-year-long detention of their founder patron Mirwaiz-e-Kashmir Umar Farooq, who is also the Hurriyat chairman. “The Mirwaiz should be released to fulfil his religious and official responsibilities towards the people and play a positive role for the reformation and resolution of the problems faced by Kashmiri society as a whole,” they added.
The umbrella groups also decried “the attempt by some so-called scholars and preachers, who misuse the sacred pulpit of the mosques, to incite religious hatred among sects, undermining the centuries-old shared harmony and social peace among Kashmiri society”. They appealed to scholars, preachers and imams of mosques “to keep an eye on such trouble mongers and their activities”.
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