New Delhi: The President of the All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat (Regd.), Dr. Zafarul-Islam Khan thanked the opposition parties — especially the INDIA alliance and the Congress party and their Members of Parliament — and said that by voting unitedly against the Waqf Bill, they have proven that India’s conscience is still alive. “India is still secular, and the future of the minorities in India is still secure and safe,” he said.
Dr. Khan said that we hope the political circumstances will soon change and this oppressive Waqf Bill will be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Dr. Khan announced that the Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat will soon file a petition in the Supreme Court against this oppressive bill.
Dr. Zafarul-Islam said that the forcibly introduced Waqf Bill is a ploy to seize the properties that have been endowed over centuries by the ancestors of the Muslim community. It is not easy to prove the ownership of old properties in our country, and this also applies to all ancient religious properties. But, surprisingly, the laws for religious properties of all other communities are different from this law. In those cases, people of other religions are not made members of their trusts; no documents are demanded for old religious buildings; temples are not searched underneath them; nor is the collector given the authority to make a final decision on their ownership.
Dr Khan said this bill has been brought by the same party that, through dozens of its actions, has tried to push Muslims to the margins — a party that has no Muslim minister, member of Parliament, or even an MLA in its ranks, and which has launched a war against Muslim Personal Law, mosques, madrasas, etc. This is the same party whose affiliated armed gangs have killed and injured hundreds of Muslims through lynching over the past eleven years and have illegally bulldozed countless homes. We have no good expectations from such a government. We believe that the situation will change, and all actions carried out under the politics of hate will also come to an end.
