Massive land grabbing from waqf states
A joint initiative
must be launched by the WAQF property administration and the government for recovering as much land as possible
According to a recent land survey report, huge chunks of land meant for religious, educational and charitable causes endowed by several charitable persons have been illegally grabbed by several quartersunfortunately including some government departments. The report further stated, there is no clue to the unlawful capturing of some 85,000 acres of waqf land - under the names of not many, but just two individuals alone. The size is undeniably astonishing, and even more astonishing is the means of grabbing these donated lands. Moreover, such illegal grabbing have been so frequent in the past years that there is factually no existence of many land properties in the waqf property administration any longerthese are there only on paper.
For instance, one Mohammad Hossain of Bagdessa under the old Sadar Thana of Dhaka is recorded to have donated 72,000 acres of land for Shahzadi Begum waqf Estate. Puzzlingly, a mere 10 to 12 acres of the thousands of acres of that waqf Estate exists in the name of that estate. The rest has been devoured by illicit ways.
The question, however, is: how did this come to happen? And, if there is a way to recover these illegally captured waqf lands?
According to sources, generations of deceitful Mutawallis (Custodians), in connection with the occupants have grabbed and sold massive chunks of lands over the years. If true, what was the waqf property administration doing for so many years since its inception? Why werent the custodians monitored and deterred from selling lands criminally? Many of these huge lumps of donated lands date back to the 19th century and even earlier, so the custodians misuse of power had begun more than a century ago. No authority challenged their crimes. On top of it, in the light of current reality, there is little hope to recover the illegally grabbed thousands of acres of lands.
However, the waqf administration is reported to have taken certain measures, including of imposing bans on the transfer of waqf lands while introducing and maintaining a separate ledger in order to counter illegal occupation. Efforts at individual level to recover these lands are continuing too. We want their unhindered continuation and also expect the governments law ministry to intervene, if necessary. The recovery process should be fast-tracked. A joint initiative must be launched by the waqf property administration and the government for recovering as much land as possible. They should be used only for their intended purposes.
