Srinagar- A day after news surfaced regarding an FIR filed by the anti-graft body of Jammu and Kashmir against Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and six others in connection with a land allotment case, the Hurriyat leader has denied the claims.
In a statement, Mirwaiz Manzil, Nigeen said the attempt to “malign and harass” is clear from the threat of eviction, when Mirwaiz has received no intimation or notice on this matter from the J&K Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
“It is part of the same vehement print, electronic and social media propaganda carried out against the Mirwaiz in 2018 when multiple properties including the properties of Anjuman Auqaf Jamia Masjid, Anjuman Nusratul Islam, Darul ul Khair Mirwaiz Manzil were all attributed to him and later all proved to be false and baseless,” the statement said.
“Such things will not cow Mirwaiz down,” it said.
“The fact of the matter is that no property at present — house or land — belongs to Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in Nigeen. The residential land and house where he lives in Nigeen was purchased and built upon by his late father Mirwaiz Molvi Mohammad Farooq in 1973, the same year Mirwaiz Umar was born. Its boundary walls are the same since that year,” the statement said.
From 1990 till today, the Mirwaiz had no inkling of this matter as no information or notice was ever sent or shared with him by the concerned.
“If as per the authorities, there was any issue involved, the concerned, as is the procedure, should have intimated Mirwaiz instead of ‘instantly booking’ him in the case. The motive to malign and defame is apparent,” the statement said.
It said the Mirwaiz’s close kin who is also being implicated, is a well-respected civil servant known for his integrity, and neither of the two have and nor God willing will do anything immoral and illegal.
“The fact is that the present Mirwaiz does not have any land or property in Nigeen, but the house in which he is residing was given to him by his father, the late Shaheed Millat Maulana Muhammad Farooq, after fulfilling the legal requirements of that time as well as in 1973. It was built and its walling was also implemented in the same period and coincidentally Mirwaiz was also born in the same year,” the statement from Mirwaiz Manzil reads.
Notably, on Tuesday, the ACB & J&K Police booked Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and a serving senior bureaucrat among seven people for allegedly encroaching upon Custodian land in connivance with revenue officials in summer capital Srinagar.
According to the FIR, “The investigation revealed that officers and officials from the Custodian and Revenue Departments colluded with the beneficiaries, engaging in corrupt practices and abusing their positions. They dishonestly allocated evacuee land, ignoring prevailing rules, and failed to act against the encroachers, resulting in undue benefits for themselves and the beneficiaries, causing a significant loss to the state exchequer.”
Reports said that if the charges are proven against the accused, the land and house in which Mirwaiz Umar is living shall be confiscated. Custodian lands are the properties belonging to those people who have migrated to Pakistan after partition.
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