
KOZHIKODE: In a significant political development, IUML state secretary K M Shaji has dismissed Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan’s claim that the disputed land at Munambam is not a waqf property. Addressing a public meeting at Koomanna in Malappuram district on Saturday night, Shaji said Satheesan’s remark is his personal opinion and that the IUML does not share his view.
It may be recalled that Satheesan has asserted many times that the land at Munambam is not waqf property. He had said the land has been subjected to multiple transactions and hence it cannot be a waqf property. Moreover, he said waqf should be unconditional but there are some conditions mentioned in the original deed.
“Munambam is a big issue, and not a minor one as you think. There are possibilities for a big controversy. The leader of opposition said it is not waqf land. It is his personal view. IUML has no such opinion,” Shaji said.
The IUML leader came down heavily on the Farook College management, to whom the land was given a waqf. “What right do they (management) have to say that it is not waqf property. Who are the real culprits in the Munambam issue? It is not the people who purchased the land. Who gave them the land? Who sold waqf property? Who prepared the documents for them? It is not the responsibility of the IUML, Congress or the CPM to catch them. There is a government to do the duty,” he said.
IUML leader M K Muneer also obliquely supported Shaji’s stand. He told reporters that the Muslim Coordination Committee that met in Kozhikode two months ago under the leadership of Panakkad Sadiq Ali Thangal never said Munambam land is not waqf property.
What Thangal said is final word, says Kunhalikutty
“IUML is for an amicable settlement of the issue without evicting the people who are residing there,” he said.
Meanwhile, Muslim League national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty said what Sadiq Ali Thangal said is the final word on the issue. Talking to reporters in Kozhikode, he said the party intervened when the BJP and the CPM were trying to create a communal division in the issue. “You don’t try to become the party and don’t use it to make controversies,” he told mediapersons.
Shaji’s comment has come at a point when all the major Muslim organisations have started asserting that the land in Munambam is indeed a Waqf property. Samastha Kerala Jem-Iyyathul Ulama mushawara member Umar Faizi Mukkam was the first person who broke the silence on Satheesan’s claim. Other Muslim organisations, including the two factions of the Sunnis, KNM (Markazudawa), PDP and two factions of the IUML also raised their concern over portraying the land as outside the purview of Waqf. They believe that a settlement can be possible only after establishing the Waqf claim.
IUML’s double standard on the issue also became a discussion in the last few weeks. The party had staged a protest in Kozhikode in November, 2022, for reclaiming the Waqf land. Party leader K P A Majeed had raised similar demand in the assembly in the same year. It is alleged that the IUML is taking a different stand now to protect the interests of certain groups that are close to the party.