The claims that the revision of the Waqf laws is a ploy by the government to usurp Waqf land are completely false, sources told NDTV today after certain remarks by the Muslim Law Board. The idea behind the amendment, sources said, is to empower Muslim women and children, who have suffered under it.
Sources say that certain Muslim clerics are creating a “dangerous narrative” by making wild statements about taking Muslim land.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board today said in a statement that no amendment or modification in the Waqf Act “will be tolerated”.
Law Board spokesperson Dr SQR Ilyas said the government wants to change the status and nature of Waqf properties through about 40 amendments to the Waqf Act, 2013, “so that their ownership becomes easier”.
The Muslim Personal Law Board feels it is important to make it clear that Waqf properties are “donations of Muslim philanthropists who are working for religious and charitable purposes,” he said. The government has only passed the Waqf Act to regulate them.
He added that this problem will not be limited to Muslims alone. It is feared that the next issue will be donations from Sikhs and Christians.
Sources pointed out that the first Waqf Act was passed in 1954 and the first amendment was passed in 1995 and then in 2013. They said Muslim women and ordinary Muslims are now “asking why the government is not amending the current Waqf Act”.
Once a land goes to Waqf, it cannot be taken back, sources said. This is why powerful Muslims have captured the Waqf board. “The women and children suffer. If a Muslim woman is divorced, she and her children do not get any rights,” sources said.
The proposed amendment has two main components: a provision for the inclusion of women in Waqf boards for the first time; and ensuring that land is verified before it is announced as Waqf property. Sources said that no decision has been made yet on when it would be passed.
