Maintain peace and unity, imams tell waqf protesters
Times of India | 14 April 2025
123 Kolkata: Imams on Sunday came together with a plea to maintain peace and unity while protesting against the waqf act amendments ahead of a meeting with CM Mamata Banerjee on April 16.
"We want peace," All India Imam Association chairman Md Bakibillah Molla said, adding: "Appeal to all people of the state, specifically people who are protesting against the amended waqf act, to continue their protests in a peaceful and constitutional manner. Don't take the law into your hands. While protesting, we will not do anything that can create a violent situation in society." They reposed faith in Banerjee and hoped that following the meeting, they would be able to reach a solution.
Former Rajya Sabha MP and West Bengal Minorities Commission chairperson Ahmed Hassan Imran asked people to keep faith in Supreme Court. "This amendment act was forced on us. ‘Forced' because no Muslim wanted this. We believe waqf properties to be Allah's property. All communities live together in this country and follow their respective religions — this has been safeguarded by the Constitution. Like we want the temple property and its management to remain in the hands of Hindus, waqf is important to Muslim people. Let us protest peacefully. We will have hope for justice in SC," he said.
He further asked those protesting to attend the meeting at Netaji Indoor Stadium to discuss a roadmap.
Imams condemned the violence that had taken place in the state. "Our entire team in Murshidabad is working with officials to maintain peace. Let the law take its course. We do not tolerate riots. We also appeal to Hindus over there, we shall succeed with your help. Help us. If in your community, there are people trying to foment communal tension, then ask them not to. We are appealing to Muslims not to get hot-headed. We are all living in one society, one Bengal; our duty is to protect the state and the country," Nakhoda Masjid imam Md Shafique Qasmi said.
The imams called the violence "a mixture of communal and political conspiracy" to disrupt otherwise peaceful demonstrations against the amended act. They asked people to protest in a constitutional manner and remember the unity between the religious communities that has existed for years. "We have observed outsider attempts to flare up the matter there," general secretary of All Bengal Imam-Muazzin Association Nizamuddin Biswas, whose house is in Murshidabad, said.