Waqf Bill: AIMPLB delegation shares objections with House panel chief

The next meeting of the committee is scheduled on August 30. The agenda of the meeting is to hear views and suggestions of various stakeholders including All India Sunni Jamiyatul Ulama and Mumbai and Indian Muslims for Civil Rights (IMCR), New Delhi.

The committee, in another meeting the same day. will also take oral evidence from the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board and Rajasthan Board of Muslim Waqf on the Bill.

On Saturday, the AIMPLB statement said that the delegation — led by its general secretary Maulana Muhammad Fazlur Rahim Mujaddidi — lodged its objections to each amendment in detail in the Bill.

The delegation said the Bill has not only “reduced the powers of the Waqf Board but has also handed over the authority of all important decisions to the Collector.” Demanding that the government immediately withdraw the Bill, the delegation said that by “removing the clause of Waqf-by-User, the path of occupying mosques, cemeteries and dargahs has been simplified.”

The Board had sought an appointment to meet Pal, who had invited the delegation Friday. The Board received the communication for meeting hours after its leaders said in a press conference that the Central government has “kept the doors closed for dialogues with Muslims for the past 10 years.”