The ruling National Conference today hailed a meeting between Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq♊ and NC Member of Parliament Aga Syed Ruhullah in New Delhi, saying that the meeting is a positive development.
“MP Aga sahab is our par🔯li♔ament member and a religious leader and Mirwaiz is also a religious leader. Their meeting took place in a good and happy atmosphere and we want every person from Jammu and Kashmir to come on one platform so that we can solve our problems,” said National Conference chief spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq.
Mirwaiz and Ruhulla🅷h met in New Delhi on January 29 in the wake of the government’s move to introduce the Uniform Civil Code (UCCও) and the Waqf (Amendment) Bill and held an hour-long discussion.
It was the first such meeting between political leaders having different ideological backgrounds and political trajectories. Mirwaiz has been heading separatist conglomerate Hurriyat Conference ඣand held talks at the highest level with the centre previously. At present Mirwaiz is also a patron of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), which is a conglomerate of 40-plus Muslim bodies in🦩 J&K.
About the meeting, Ruhullah said that he talked to Mirwaiz about the issue of Waqaf and other Muslim concerns. The NC leader described the Waqaf as a major Muslim issue and said it is not confined to Jammu and Kashmir but all Muslims. “I discussed challenges faced by Muslims in J&K and other parts of the country with Mirwaiz. We also discussed the condition of Kashmiri prisoners lying in various jails,” Ruhullღah said.
Ruhullꦫah said the Constitution of India has given religious rights to Musli🦄m, which is being taken away by the present government. “How the country will behave, whether Muslims have rights, and all these issues are pertaining to Muslims,” he added.
Earlier Mirw𝔍aiz met Jagdambika Pal, chairman of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024 with a set of demands insisting the bill in its present form will be detrimental to the interests of the minority Muslims. However, after the meeting, Mirwaiz told reportꦺers that it seemed the JPC was not in a mood to listen to anything. He said the JPC had made its mind to go ahead with the bill in the present form. Mirwaiz said that he had hoped that the committee would take feedback after visiting Jammu and Kashmir on the proposed Waqf bill but the JPC didn’t visit the Valley.
Last year in August the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, was referred to the joint Parliamentary committee led by BJP MP Jagdambika Pa🐬l after criticism and concerns raised by var⭕ious stakeholders, including the Opposition.
