Mirwaiz Umar Farooq under house arrest, releases Waqf resolution

SRINAGAR: Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Kashmir’s chief cleric and chairman of Hurriyat Conference, was placed under house arrest and not allowed to offer Friday prayer at Srinagar’s Jamia Masjid. Despite the action, Mirwaiz claimed a resolution, drafted by an umbrella outfit that he heads, was read out in mosques.

“It is both heartbreaking and outrageous that authorities continue to trample on my basic religious rights at their will,” Mirwaiz said. J&K police had not issued any statement on the arrest, although Mirwaiz has been put in such confinement ahead of Friday prayers on several occasions.

The Waq resolution was formulated by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulama (MMU), the Mirwaiz-headed amalgam of religious organisations. On Wednesday, he had said the authorities did not allow MMU to hold a meeting on the new Waqf law at his Srinagar home, prompting the organisation to come up with the resolution. According to Mirwaiz, religious representatives of J&K, including from Ladakh, Kargil and Jammu, had reached the Valley to attend the meet.

The resolution released by Mirwaiz says the MMU expressed concern about several provisions of the Waqf law as it will affect the religious character of Waqf institutions.

“The new legislation introduces significant changes in management and supervision of Waqf properties, and many feel that it may diminish the role and authority of the Muslim community in overseeing its religious endowments, which have traditionally been managed in accordance with Islamic principles,” the resolution reads.

The reduction in powers of Muslim-led Waqf Boards and greater roles now assigned to govt authorities and non-Muslim officials have led to apprehensions that the core religious and charitable purpose of Waqf may not be fully understood or upheld, the resolution says.

“The provision of allowing non-Muslims to be appointed to central and state Waqf boards, and removal of the earlier condition that the CEO of a Waqf Board must be a Muslim, has been viewed by the community as a deviation from the spiritual and religious ethos of Waqf management,” the resolution adds.

A key worry is a provision for transfer of key decision-making powers to district collectors, including the authority to determine whether a property is Waqf or not. This may lead to unilateral decisions and a weakening of the role of Waqf boards, the resolution says.

“The removal of the concept of ‘Waqf by long-standing use”, which protected mosques, graveyards, and other Islamic sites used for generations without formal documentation, may result in the loss of such properties simply due to lack of official records,” the resolution adds.