SRINAGAR: In Jammu and Kashmir, the J&K Waqf Board led by a BJP leader, is at odds with the elected Omar Abdullah government over the Waqf Amendment Act. While the Board chairperson Darakshan Andrabi hailed it as a significant improvement for Waqf institutions, the ruling NC denounced the Act, claiming that it targets a specific religion.Andrabi, a senior BJP leader, said, “The Act will significantly improve Waqf institutions by introducing greater transparency and accountability.”She said the Bill has already received the President’s assent and is being implemented across the country, including J&K. On opposition parties moving the Supreme Court to challenge the Act, Andrabi said, “They can move the apex court if they want, but these amendments were necessary for our country. It will lead to the development of Waqf Boards, and there will also be accountability”.The stand of the J&K Waqf Board chairperson is in stark contrast to that of the Omar Abdullah government.A senior NC leader said that after 2019 (the abrogation of Article 370), many central laws were imposed in J&K, and now the J&K Waqf Board is not under the J&K government’s purview but under the control of the central government.“You have seen after being elected, the Omar Abdullah government did not change the J&K Waqf Board chairperson because it does not fall in its jurisdiction,” he said.
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