J&K panel expresses “serious and deep concern” over amendments to the Waqf Act

The Mirwaiz, who is also chairman of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, said the “arbitrary powers” for the collector on both disputed and undisputed Waqf properties give him immense control over them.

Ten Opposition members attending the JPC meeting were suspended for a day on Friday after protests and accusations against chairman Jagdambika Pal of steamrolling through the proceedings.

The suspended MPs are Kalyan Banerjee and Nadeem-ul Haque (TMC), Mohammad Jawed, Imran Masood and Syed Naseer Hussain (Congress), A. Raja and Mohamed Abdullah (DMK), Asaduddin Owaisi (AIMIM), Mohibullah (SP) and Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-UBT).

As Opposition MPs accused Mr Pal of reducing the proceedings to a farce, alleging he was acting on the government’s diktat, the chairman said they were trying to disrupt the meeting. Mr Pal said TMC Kalyan Banerjee was hurling abuses at him and said he tried to bring the meeting to order, but in vain. After this, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey moved a motion for suspending the Opposition members, which was adopted by the committee,

“A delegation had come (from J&K) and the Opposition MPs started shouting slogans and used derogatory, unparliamentary language. They abused us as well. Nishikant Dubey was then compelled to propose their suspension, which was approved unanimously by all others. There was no change in agenda of the meeting. We held 34 meetings, called 250 stakeholders... no JPC has operated in such a democratic manner,” Mr Pal told the media.

According to Mr Kalyan Banerjee the problems were aplenty. “After our meeting on January 21, the chairman informed the members that the next meeting will be held on January 24-25. Opposition members protested and A. Raja also wrote a letter requesting to schedule the meeting after January 30 or 31. But the chairman did not listen to us,” Mr Banerjee said. He said the agenda of Friday’s meeting was changed late Thursday night and intimated to members close to midnight. “The chairman is treating Opposition members as domestic helps and ordering them around,” Mr Banerjee added, and alleged the proceedings were being rushed through with an eye on the Delhi Assembly elections. He said Mr Pal got several phone calls as the meeting was in progress and claimed he was taking orders from the government. It is learnt the JPC will adopt its final report on January 29, ahead of the Budget Session.

Later, the suspended MPs sent a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla complaining about Mr Pal’s conduct, and urged him to direct the JPC chair to conduct the proceedings in a fair and transparent manner. They alleged the JPC chief was functioning in an unfair manner ignoring the rules. They urged the Speaker to postpone the meeting till January 27 instead of January 25 to give them more time to study it.

“As we all felt humiliated, we stood and raised our voice democratically to hear our demands. Meanwhile, the chairman spoke with someone on the phone and suddenly and surprisingly ordered our suspension with shouting,” the suspended MPs said.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq told reporters he strongly opposed the bill and favoured non-interference by the government in matters of religion. “We hope our suggestions would be heard and acted upon and no such step would be taken that would make Muslims feel that they are being disempowered… The issue of Waqf is a very serious matter, especially for the people of Jammu and Kashmir, as it is a Muslim-majority state… We want the government to refrain from interfering in Waqf matters,” he said.

He claimed there was already an atmosphere of tension in J&K when there is talk of mosques and temples. “We believe no step should be taken that vitiates the atmosphere in J-K,” he added.

The MMU also objected to reduced Muslim representation and an increase in the number of non-Muslim representation up to 13 in the Central Waqf Council and seven in State Waqf Boards and the “arbitrary mandate” given to them, and said earlier all members except one were Muslim and they were elected.
“Even the provision that the CEO of the Waqf Board shall be a Muslim has been removed. These proposed changes are totally unacceptable as they will severely undermine the independent functioning of the Waqf Board by direct interference from State nominated non-Muslim board members,” the MMU says.

The other areas of its concern are about the proposed removal of the provision of “waqf by user”, increased risk of property appropriation, violation of Muslim Personal Law and constitutional rights, the possibility of the amendments exacerbating a sense of insecurity and mistrust among the Muslim community and the regional implications for J&K.

It urges the panel to reconsider and reject these proposed amendments and engage in meaningful talks with the Muslim community to address its apprehensions and concerns and take suggestions from it regarding “what kind of changes they would like to see, if any at all, to make the Waqf Act more effective for their benefit and not superimpose these discriminatory changes upon them.”

Meanwhile, several BJP members welcomed the Mirwaiz’s decision to be part of the constitutional process as the Hurriyat leader was earlier associated with separatist politics in J&K. “The best part was that he put his points strongly and cited his constitutional right to express his objections to different clauses of the bill,” BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal, a JPC member, said. He claimed the Opposition MPs deliberately created an “episode” so that the Muslim clerics’ delegation led by the Mirwaiz could not express their views before the committee.