KOZHIKODE: The issue of Shia representation in the Kerala Waqf Board has once again become a hot topic of discussion, with CPM state secretariat member P Rajeeve raising some questions to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML).
In a Facebook post, Rajeeve asked the IUML to make it clear as to who was the Shia representative in the Waqf Board constituted by the Oommen Chandy ministry.
“The chief minister said that there should be representation for the Shias in Waqf Board, and the LDF government had reconstituted the Board without considering it. The IUML leader who is also the minister, said the Board doesn’t have the mandatory representation for Shias. And the UDF government filed affidavits in the Supreme Court and the High Court assuring that Section 14 of the Waqf Act that makes it mandatory to include non-Muslims and Shias will be implemented,” he said.
The CPM leader said he was curious to know as to who was the Shia scholar included by the Oommen Chandy government in the board. “As per 14 (1) (d) of the then-existing Act one scholar each should be included from the Sunni and Shia groups,” he said.
As per the gazette order Panakkad Syed Rasheed Ali Shihab Thangal and T P Abdullah Koya Madani are included from section 14 (1) (d), Rajeeve said. He wanted to know as to who among the two is the Shia scholar the IUML nominated. Rasheed Ali Thangal is a Sunni scholar and Abdullah Koya Madani is the leader of the Salafis.
There has been no reaction from the IUML or the government on the issue raised by the CPM. Some pro-UDF social media handles assert that it was not mandatory in the old Waqf Act to include Shias in the Board. They say Shias were not given representation because they do not have any Waqf properties in Kerala. But Shias said their non-inclusion in the past is a clear violation of constitutional rights.
“During the tenure of the earlier UDF government, the nominations made under Section 14(1)(d) included Sunni and Salafi members. It raises an urgent question: were these nominations improperly used to fill a slot legally set aside for a Shia scholar?” stated a press release from Aal-e-Rasool Foundation, an organisation of Ithna As’hari Shias in Kerala.
“Usurping a designated Shia slot to accommodate Sunni, Salafi, or other non-Shia figures is a direct violation of the law and an ongoing injustice to the Shia minority of Kerala” the statement added. It said the inclusion of an authentic Shia representative in the Waqf Board is a statutory obligation framed to protect Shia Waqf properties and personal laws. “It cannot be bypassed, ignored, or substituted by any political party, whether LDF or UDF.
Shia quotas and representation must strictly belong to qualified individuals from the Shia Muslim community” the statement added.