By Md. Ali, TwoCircles.net,
Patna : The CEO of the Madhya Pradesh Waqf Board SMH Zaidi recently asked the state police to provide him with a personal security guard as he is holding a post which deals with land encroachers and land mafia.
Talking to TwoCircles.net Mr. Zaidi explained that being the CEO of the Waqf Board makes his job quasi judicial in nature. For instance he has to pass orders in cases related to the waqf land most of them are related to its encroachment.
These encroachers simply don’t want to hand over the custody of the waqf properties, he further added. And while executing his duty he ends up annoying people who range from ordinary goons to the big land mafias who have encroached waqf properties for many years.
The result is that he has been getting several threats daily through phone and in person.
In this context the demand for security and a gunman is a very natural, he argued. He wrote a letter to the Principal Secretary of Backward Class and Minorities Welfare department demanding a gunman. So far he has got positive responses from the administration.
The Bhopal SP has proposed setting up of a police chowki in the premises of the Waqf Board.
Pointing out an instance of the involvement of the high and mighty in the encroachment of Waqf properties Zaidi said that there is a mosque opposite the minority commission office which has 14 acres of land. But most of this land has been encroached so much so that at present mere 4000 square feet of land is in the custody of the mosque.
Among the encroachers in this case are some heavyweights who have good connection with people in the government, Zaidi pointed out.
Another prominent beneficiary by the encroachment of Waqf properties is the land mafia which can go to any extent in order to resist the Board’s attempts to release the waqf lands from their clutches.
He also went to point out that most of the encroachers are Muslims who once used to be in the management committees of the Waqf board. But now the case is that they make money from the Waqf through unfair means and don’t want that part of the income to be scrapped.
When the administration takes action against them they try to communalize the issue accusing the government of harassing Muslims, he added.